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Dr. Sproul uses the terms "sovereign" and "sovereignty" a total of 24 times but never defines them. Read the article carefully. It never happens. He sort of hints at what might be included in God's sovereignty, but as far as telling us what His sovereignty is, he never does it.
Dr. Sproul uses the terms "sovereign" and "sovereignty" a total of 24 times but never defines them. Read the article carefully. It never happens. He sort of hints at what might be included in God's sovereignty, but as far as telling us what His sovereignty is, he never does it.
The dictionary definition is:
- One that exercises supreme, permanent authority, especially in a nation or other governmental unit, as.
- A king, queen, or other noble person who serves as chief of state; a ruler or monarch.
- A national governing council or committee.
In the NT we find the Greek word despotés, a lord, master, or prince:
Ac. 4:24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them.
In the OT we find this:
2And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
English does not really have an equivalent term.
So what does it mean to be sovereign? It means the unlimited possession of all power to do with as one wants. The King owns everything in the kingdom with no limits. We see the scope of lordship power and ownership in David's conversation with Araunah. Araunah rejects David's desire to buy his threshing floor: Araunah gives all this to the king. (2Sa. 24:23)
This was quite proper. Araunah knew the power of the king and knew his place. The king could simply take it because it is already his. However, David had a different idea:
2Sa. 24:24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
This is an astonishing display by David, very unking-like. This could very well be one of the reasons David was called a man after God's own heart.
So a sovereign stands alone in the magnitude and scope of power, knowing no limits and recognizing no other authority. Yet a Lord can still do as he pleases, even if it seems to violate his own sovereignty. David did that, and God can do that.
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Sometimes Christians get confused about predestination and free will, as if they are opposites. (?? Dr. Sproul does not open with a discussion of sovereignty. Why does he start with predestination and free will? Well, we will never find out. Dr. Sproul never will connect this.)
We must understand that free will is not simply a pagan concept, though the pagan conception enjoys widespread approval. Christians also believe in free will, but the free will that we believe in is not the humanistic or pagan version of it. One secular idea that has been pervasive in the church today is the humanistic doctrine of human freedom that says that our will, even in our fallen condition, remains indifferent and equally able to incline ourselves to the good or to the evil. It ignores the biblical revelation that though we have the power of choosing, our choices are in bondage to sin. (Ok, since he mentions the Bible, why doesn't he tell us where this idea is found?)
Only the power of God the Holy Spirit can rescue us from that bondage, that spiritual death, and that paralysis.
We have to get our view of the human will (Still talking about free will...)
not from the secular culture but from the Word of God. (Where in the Word of God?)
Not only are we deficient at that point, but also the pagan world has intruded into our thinking the idea that this world functions according to internal independent laws of nature and of physics.
The idea is that the universe operates moment to moment under its own steam without the transcendent sovereign power of God enabling it and ordaining it. I cannot lift my arm, for example, apart from the power of God. Whatever power I have in my right arm to exercise my will is at best secondary in its causal expression, (????)
The idea is that the universe operates moment to moment under its own steam without the transcendent sovereign power of God enabling it and ordaining it. I cannot lift my arm, for example, apart from the power of God. Whatever power I have in my right arm to exercise my will is at best secondary in its causal expression, (????)
but all the things that I do in this world are done under and because of the transcendent sovereign power of God. (Well, this is the matter yet to be demonstrated.)
Some say God is sovereign, but God’s sovereignty is limited by human freedom. (Who says this? Is it an accurate representation of the opposing side of the issue?
Some say God is sovereign, but God’s sovereignty is limited by human freedom. (Who says this? Is it an accurate representation of the opposing side of the issue?
Finally Dr. Sproul has broached the subject of the nature of God's sovereignty, but he still ties it to free will.)
If that were the case, then who is sovereign? (How does human freedom limit God's sovereignty, Dr. Sproul? Please explain.)
We have been given a measure of freedom by our Creator, but our freedom is always and everywhere limited by God’s freedom. (What does this mean? Where do we find this in the Bible?)
God is sovereign, not we ourselves, and His sovereignty extends to all things, not only the creation of the world but the sustaining and governing of the world, (Again, this is the matter under discussion, and has yet to be demonstrated.)
and what we describe as the laws of nature only describe the ordinary ways that God in His sovereignty governs nature.
If there is one maverick molecule in this universe running free from the sovereign control of God, we have no reason to believe any future promise that God has made, because that one maverick molecule may be the very thing that will destroy those plans. (Why? How does a "maverick molecule" have any impact on God's sovereignty? What is a "maverick molecule?" Dr. Sproul continues to explain nothing.)
But thanks be to God, there are no maverick molecules running loose outside of the scope of God’s sovereign government. (Dr. Sproul introduces a new phrase, "sovereign government," but does not explain it.)
I once was asked to teach a seminary course on the theology of the Westminster Confession of Faith. When we got to the section of the confession on the eternal decrees of God, the seminary students brought their non-Reformed friends to the class. And to this group of inquisitive seminarians I read, with no explanation, the first section of this part of the confession: “God from all eternity did . . . freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass” (WCF 3.1). I then asked: “How many of you believe that? How many believe that God immutably and eternally ordains every single thing that comes to pass?”
I once was asked to teach a seminary course on the theology of the Westminster Confession of Faith. When we got to the section of the confession on the eternal decrees of God, the seminary students brought their non-Reformed friends to the class. And to this group of inquisitive seminarians I read, with no explanation, the first section of this part of the confession: “God from all eternity did . . . freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass” (WCF 3.1). I then asked: “How many of you believe that? How many believe that God immutably and eternally ordains every single thing that comes to pass?”
Now, I was in a Reformed seminary. So, it wasn’t astonishing that 175 students raised their hands. In any other general seminary, that would have been astonishing. But about seventy-five students didn’t raise their hands.
I then asked, “How many of you would describe yourselves as atheists?” No students raised their hands. I said: “There’s just one thing I don’t understand. You didn’t affirm that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass. And yet, you didn’t say that you are an atheist. But if God doesn’t ordain everything that comes to pass, then God isn’t sovereign. And if God isn’t sovereign, then God is not God.” (Here we have another hint of what Dr. Sproul means by sovereignty. Apparently it has something to do with ordaining everything that happens. We have no idea where this concept came from, he just pulls it out of a hat. Why is sovereignty linked to ordaining? How are they related? Where in the Bible do we find this?)
We then examined more carefully what the confession really means. It goes on to say that secondary causes are not eliminated; (What are secondary causes, and why is it important that they are not eliminated?)
nor is violence done to the will of man. (Why would sovereignty do violence to the will of man? If God ordains everything, then how does the will of man fit in? Dr. Sproul seems given to undocumented pronouncements.)
God is not the author or doer of sin. (But He ordains everything?)
Centuries earlier, Augustine said that as Christians who believe in a sovereign God, we have to affirm that, in some sense, God must ordain whatsoever comes to pass. (But He is not the author or doer of sin? Again Dr. Sproul leaves us dangling.)
Some people are quick to bring up the concept of God’s “permissive will.” This concept has been invented as a way to excuse God from responsibility for those things we don’t want to assign to Him. (But aren't you going to explain permissive will? What does it mean, and how does it come to bear on the discussion?)
Some people are quick to bring up the concept of God’s “permissive will.” This concept has been invented as a way to excuse God from responsibility for those things we don’t want to assign to Him. (But aren't you going to explain permissive will? What does it mean, and how does it come to bear on the discussion?)
But God knows what’s going to happen before it happens. (Foreknowledge is a different thing than pre-ordination.)
He knows what I am going to say before I say it. He knows what I am going to do before I do it. Does God have the power to stop me? Does God have the right to stop me if He so chooses? If He permits me to commit a sin, He has chosen to permit me. (Is this a description of "permissive will?" Dr. Sproul previously deemed it an excuse. We are becoming convinced that Dr. Sproul doesn't know what he's talking about.)
If He chooses to permit it, He deems it wise that it should come to pass, or else He would not permit it because He does all things well, including the exercise of His sovereignty. (Sigh...)
If He chooses to permit it, He deems it wise that it should come to pass, or else He would not permit it because He does all things well, including the exercise of His sovereignty. (Sigh...)
In Genesis 37, we read about Joseph’s brothers, who were guilty and responsible for the sins they committed against their brother, the betrayal and treachery that sent him to languish in prison, removed from his family. Later Joseph said, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20). (Our first Bible verse, finally. But Dr. Sproul doesn't explain it. Was Joseph accurately describing how God works, or was he assuaging his brothers' guilty feelings?)
Now, the Bible says we are never to call evil good or good evil (Isa. 5:20). Evil is evil, and evil is deserving of divine retribution. But it is good that there is evil, or evil could not be, because all things are under the scope of God’s sovereignty, including our wickedness, which He uses for His righteous purposes. (Oh. that cleared it up...)
That God can be involved in catastrophic events or in the evil actions of fallen human beings becomes a matter of national interest when catastrophic events such as hurricanes and tsunamis occur. People say, “This is an accident of nature.” But even the insurance companies have enough sense to call these things “acts of God.” (No, insurance companies do not do this. there is no reference to acts of God in any insurance policy.)
When we go beyond natural calamities and look at calamities foisted on us by human wickedness, we find it all the more difficult to think that God’s sovereignty could somehow be behind it. (How is God's sovereignty behind this? Is Dr. Sproul going to explain anything?)
After 9/11, some Christian leaders opined that the attacks were God’s judgment on the rampant immorality of our culture. Those observations outraged the press, who demanded that the men retract their comments. It was an unthinkable idea to the American public that God could possibly be involved in such a calamity, because apparently they never read Isaiah 45: “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; . . . I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and I create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Isa. 45:5–7). (Our second Bible verse, again left unexplained.)
Two things happened out of 9/11. First, there was a fresh awakening in the public consciousness about the reality of evil. All of a sudden, moral relativism was arrested as people witnessed an event that they could not regard as morally indifferent but that must be viewed as unspeakably wicked. There was a new acceptance of the idea of sin. Second, there came a revival of interest of God’s blessing a given nation. All over the country—on windows, bumpers, and everywhere else—was the slogan “God bless America.”
Now, the same people who were praying for God to bless America were the people who thought it completely impossible that God could judge America. If you pray that God would bless a nation, certainly in your prayer you must allow for the possibility that He might not, that indeed, if He’s capable of bringing prosperity and peace to a nation, then He must also be capable of withdrawing that blessing and even bringing calamity and wrath on it.
But our understanding of God has degenerated into a cosmic bellhop, a celestial Santa Claus, who exists to serve our needs and to give us nice things when we inquire after Him, but we will not bow before His sovereignty that extends over all things. (This is interesting, but not relevant.)
I generally say that there are four ways that God is sovereign. He is sovereign over nature. He is sovereign over history and human affairs. And He is sovereign in His inherent right to impose obligations on His creatures, to say to them, “Thou shalt not do this” and “Thou shalt do that.” Do we believe that He has that sovereignty, that right to command obedience from us and impose obligations on us? (The first piece of valuable commentary. These are good questions, and come to bear on the unexplained sovereignty of God. If God is truly Lord of all, His commands carry great weight, and require a response.)
Every time we sin, we challenge God’s sovereign right to command what we should do. Some Christians believe that God is sovereign over nature and history and morality but not over His grace. They deny that He has the eternal inherent right to give His mercy to whom He will give mercy. (Grace is not the same thing as mercy.)
I’ll conclude with Romans 11:36: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” From Him: He is the source, the author of all that is good, true, beautiful, and real. (There verse says, "all things," not all that is good, true, beautiful, and real.)
After 9/11, some Christian leaders opined that the attacks were God’s judgment on the rampant immorality of our culture. Those observations outraged the press, who demanded that the men retract their comments. It was an unthinkable idea to the American public that God could possibly be involved in such a calamity, because apparently they never read Isaiah 45: “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; . . . I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and I create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Isa. 45:5–7). (Our second Bible verse, again left unexplained.)
Two things happened out of 9/11. First, there was a fresh awakening in the public consciousness about the reality of evil. All of a sudden, moral relativism was arrested as people witnessed an event that they could not regard as morally indifferent but that must be viewed as unspeakably wicked. There was a new acceptance of the idea of sin. Second, there came a revival of interest of God’s blessing a given nation. All over the country—on windows, bumpers, and everywhere else—was the slogan “God bless America.”
Now, the same people who were praying for God to bless America were the people who thought it completely impossible that God could judge America. If you pray that God would bless a nation, certainly in your prayer you must allow for the possibility that He might not, that indeed, if He’s capable of bringing prosperity and peace to a nation, then He must also be capable of withdrawing that blessing and even bringing calamity and wrath on it.
But our understanding of God has degenerated into a cosmic bellhop, a celestial Santa Claus, who exists to serve our needs and to give us nice things when we inquire after Him, but we will not bow before His sovereignty that extends over all things. (This is interesting, but not relevant.)
I generally say that there are four ways that God is sovereign. He is sovereign over nature. He is sovereign over history and human affairs. And He is sovereign in His inherent right to impose obligations on His creatures, to say to them, “Thou shalt not do this” and “Thou shalt do that.” Do we believe that He has that sovereignty, that right to command obedience from us and impose obligations on us? (The first piece of valuable commentary. These are good questions, and come to bear on the unexplained sovereignty of God. If God is truly Lord of all, His commands carry great weight, and require a response.)
Every time we sin, we challenge God’s sovereign right to command what we should do. Some Christians believe that God is sovereign over nature and history and morality but not over His grace. They deny that He has the eternal inherent right to give His mercy to whom He will give mercy. (Grace is not the same thing as mercy.)
I’ll conclude with Romans 11:36: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” From Him: He is the source, the author of all that is good, true, beautiful, and real. (There verse says, "all things," not all that is good, true, beautiful, and real.)
Through Him: by means of His sovereign power and agency. Not only do all things come from Him, but they come by means of His power. (But what about sin and evil? Dr. Sproul has not given adequate attention to this.)
To Him: the purpose for all things is not me. It is not you. It is Him. All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him, or we could say for Him. And it ends with a doxology: “To Him be glory forever.” Soli Deo gloria, to God alone the glory.
(Dr. Sproul creates more questions than he answers. He never gets to the place of reconciling the disparate ideas that have been discussed by the great minds of Christianity over the centuries. If God is sovereign, how does evil exist? If humans have free will, how does that come to bear on God's sovereignty? If God controls everything, then how are we not automatons?
(Dr. Sproul creates more questions than he answers. He never gets to the place of reconciling the disparate ideas that have been discussed by the great minds of Christianity over the centuries. If God is sovereign, how does evil exist? If humans have free will, how does that come to bear on God's sovereignty? If God controls everything, then how are we not automatons?
The issue as we see it is a misunderstanding of the meaning of sovereignty. The idea that God can do all things, knows all things, and governs the universe does not require Him to act or compel Him to not act. If He's sovereign, then He decides for Himself what He will do. He decides the nature of His own sovereignty, and there is no requirement that He makes us privy to the reasons.)
Dr. R.C. Sproul was founder of Ligonier Ministries, first minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., and first president of Reformation Bible College. He was author of more than one hundred books, including The Holiness of God.
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