Is God sovereign, or do we have free will?

Let us by the grace of God maintain firmly both these great facts — God is sovereign in His gracious actings: man, though fallen, is a responsible creature and addressed as such. The truth of Divine sovereignty is plainly stated in Scripture. Read such passages as John 6:37-44; Romans 9:10-24; Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:2. Equally plain is man's responsibility. Read such passages as John 3:16-18; Romans 2:6-16; 1 Peter 4:5-6, Let us then accept both, even if as yet we do not see far enough to discern exactly how they fit in with each other.

The will of man is recognized in all this, and not set aside. Certainly we are nowhere led, from Scripture, to think of him as a mere intellectual machine, moved necessarily by influences external to himself, but as a being free and responsible, though now, alas! fallen, and be come the willing slave of sin. As to this, we shall see more directly. It is certain that in no wise are we to think of God as determining to evil the wills of His creatures, or as involving them, whether by (what is to them) the accident of their birth or in any other way, in irretrievable ruin. This Scripture unites with our own consciences to assure us of. There may be difficulties, and there are; but however even insoluble may be the mystery, God has given us that within us which witnesses unfailingly for Him, that man's evil and man's ruin are of himself alone. How, spite of contrary and conflicting wills, God is yet as absolutely "over all, and through all, and in all," "working all after the counsel of His own will,"- this is beyond our skill to fathom. But so it is: and blessed it is to recognize that, as the apostle witnesses, it is as "God and Father of all" He is so. This is in fact the very web and woof of Scripture. This is what so irresistibly appeals to us in those tears wept over impenitent Jerusalem by Him who could pronounce its sure and approaching doom,- a doom to be executed by the hands of men ignorant and careless of Him whose sentence they fulfilled. This predestination extends to everything. Foresight and omnipotent will are everywhere. Thank God they are! In the moral as in the physical universe, nowhere can one escape from His presence, save, alas! by such an insensibility as the mass of men have sunk into. For the Christian, it is joy unspeakable to recognize this pervading presence, which recognized brings light into darkness, order into disorder, peace into whatever circumstances of distress.

While man is responsible, God is sovereign: ‘in him we live and move and exist’ (Acts 17:28). It is impossible for us to do anything against His determined will (although, as discussed above, this does not negate man’s responsibility, nor should we use it as an excuse for inaction, weakness or failure). We should never underestimate God’s sovereignty. He is so great that He gives man liberty to make his own decisions and at the same time directs all things in a way that corresponds with His purpose. God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are like two sides of a coin. We can never see the two sides at the same time. Only God can. Human philosophy tries to explain this mystery but always fails. ‘The hidden things belong to Jehovah our God; but the revealed ones are ours and our children’s for ever’ (Deut. 29:29). We should distinguish these two matters but not seek to separate them.

Throughout the word of God two mighty truths run side by side - God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Man, in the narrow grasp of his little mind, is ever prone to lose sight of one or other; or, deeming them irreconcilable, to fill his eye with the one to the exclusion of the other; it is faith's office to maintain the balance; accepting truth in its completeness, as given forth by God, without pausing first to bring all down to the level of man's own small standard. From the plan of God's revelation; as from His counsels, neither of these truths is ever omitted; while in the fulness of His sovereign power and far-reaching wisdom, He governs all, orders and shapes according to the counsel of His will, giving no account of His matters unto any; triumphing over all the workings of evil; bringing forth higher and higher blessings out of the deepest falls and failures of the creature; everywhere gracious and righteous. At the same time, He ever gives to the responsible creature his full place in responsibility, throughout his actings; never treats him as a mere machine, nor fails to leave scope for the freedom of his choice; and for us to do other wise, in the interpretation of His Word, is of necessity to miss its teaching and go astray.

On the one hand, God is sovereign, else none were saved. On the other, man is responsible, else none could be judged. You may not be able to explain God's sovereignty in relation to man's responsibility, but you are called upon to believe both, for both are clearly stated in Scripture. Romans 11 is the plainest, strongest statement as to God's sovereignty. Responsibility is emphasised throughout the entire Word of God.

That Scripture teaches man’s responsibility is equally plain, as the following Scriptures show: “God … now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). “Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life” (John 5:40). “Everyone of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12).

Blind unbelief again is ready with needling questions. lf God is sovereign and has an absolute plan and purpose for the universe, then men will argue that it makes no difference what people do. Whatever they do, they argue, this was going to be the case anyway, so they could not avoid doing lt. This is the fatalistic way of saying that man is not responsible for his own actions. This seems to them to be a logical argument. They are saying that God's sovereignty and man's responsibility cannot be true facts at the same time, because they do not understand how it can be so.

Is man responsible? Yes, just as certainly as God is sovereign. Whatever we think of it, God has declared that "every one of us shall give an account to God" (Ro. 14:12). In fact, the Lord Jesus Himself is quoted in Matthew 12:36, "I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account of it in the day of judgment." At that time no one will dare to say he was obliged to do the evil works he has done, nor to speak the evil words that came from his lips. He will have to confess himself guilty of wilfully shirking his responsibility. Even now his own conscience tells him this. lf one really believes that God is sovereign, is he not thus admitting that his own place therefore is that of a subject who is to submit to God? Faith in a sovereign God stirs the heart with a sense of responsibility to be obedient to Him.

Therefore, though the believer cannot satisfy man's intellect in explaining the compatibility of the inescapable facts of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, yet faith has no difficulty with this. The believer rejoices in both facts, and realizes the rightness of his being fully obedient to the revealed will of God. God does as He pleases: it is His right to do so. I have no right to do as I please, but am responsible to do what God pleases. To give God His place and keep my own place is the secret of deepest blessing. Let us then keep these lines of truth distinct, each in its own place, and accept them both as fully true.

Men may reject this salvation. Regretfully, they do reject it, but that can never touch the question of the wide aspect of that grace which shines with undimmed luster in the gospel and brings a full and free salvation to all. Their guilt in rejecting it flows from the fact that it is freely offered. If they could not get it, where would be their guilt in not having it? Where the righteous judgment in punishing men for not receiving what was never intended for them? (2 Thess. 1:6-10). True it is that God is sovereign, but it is equally true that man is responsible. Are we called to reconcile these things? No, they are reconciled already inasmuch as both are taught in the Word. All we have to do is believe them.

Furthermore, we have ever to remember that the sinner has nothing to do with God's unpublished decrees. What does he — what can he — know about such? Nothing whatever. But he has to do with God's published love — His proffered mercy — His free salvation — His glorious gospel. We may fearlessly assert that so long as these glowing and glorious words shine in the record of God, "Whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely," it is impossible for any son or daughter of Adam to say, "I longed to be saved, but could not. I thirsted for the living water, but could not reach it. The well was deep and I had nothing to draw with." Ah, no, such language will never be used, such an objection will never be urged by anyone in all the ranks of the lost. When men pass into eternity they will see with awful clearness what they now affect to think is so obscure and perplexing, namely, the perfect compatibility of God's electing sovereign grace and the free offer of salvation to all — the fullest harmony between divine sovereignty and human responsibility,

First, this election is not merely arbitrary, as though God was choosing one to be blessed, another to be cursed, without proper knowledge of all the issues involved. For it is 'according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.' Election is not merely foreknowledge, but it is consistent with the fact of God's foreknowledge. Does this not involve His previous knowledge of the entire future, of the persons so chosen, and of everything concerning them? We have no such knowledge, and we must give Him credit for a wisdom and love that has taken into full consideration all of these things beforehand, so that there is no possibility of mistake. It is not therefore any matter of heartless ignoring of those who are not among the elect. For the message of Divine grace is sent in good faith to all mankind: 'For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' John 3:16. There is no right reason why every soul under Heaven should not repent and believe the Gospel. One cannot dare to say that because he was not one of the elect, therefore he could not repent: for the real fact is, not that men could not repent, but that they would not. Consider Matthew 23:27.