What is God's permissive will?
Scripture speaks of things God directly wills and things He merely allows — the fall of man, the malice of Satan, the stubborn choices of nations. Understanding the difference answers two questions at once: why an almighty God tolerates evil, and whether His allowing something means He approves of it.
Two Categories, No Third
One writer sets out the whole field in a single sentence, dividing everything that happens into what God commands and what He simply lets through.
The Bible TreasuryIf we take the whole universe there is not a single thing, however small, left to chance. Nothing can happen without God's commission or permission. He either permits it, or it is according to His will. God permitted man to fall.
Permission Is Not Authorship
Because sin is a revolt against God, it can never be traced to Him as its source. Yet it did not slip past Him unnoticed either.
James BoydBut although God is not the author of sin, but its Judge, He, for His own wise purposes, allowed it to enter His dominions. He will make it serve Him, and He will get glory to His great and holy name through it, and in the end banish it from His sight forever; and we may be sure enough of this, that were it not destined to serve the purposes of His heart, it could have gained no entrance.
Holding both sides guards us from two errors at once — making God the cause of evil, or making Him its victim.
Frederick W. GrantNor dare we ascribe moral evil to the direct will of Him from whom it is a revolt... complete foresight of all being His, with full power to avert whatever will not fall into harmony with His purposes, predestination of all things may be safely maintained. God is neither made the Author of sin, nor compelled helplessly to admit defeat at the hands of men.
A Bounded Enemy
If evil operates only by permission, then the one behind it holds no independent power. Whatever he does, he does on a leash.
James BoydSatan has not one atom of power but what God has given him, neither has any other creature; but that power is to be used in the service of God who gave it. The adversary can do nothing except by the permission of the Lord, and only that His wise purposes may be carried out with regard to individuals or nations is this permission given.
When the Command Itself Is a Concession
Israel demanded a king so they could be like the nations around them, and God told Samuel to give them one. That instruction is a warning against reading every divine "yes" as endorsement.
C. H. MackintoshWas it that He approved of the plan? Most surely not; on the contrary, He declares plainly that it was a positive rejection of Himself. Why then command Samuel to appoint a king? The command was given in consequence of Israel's condition.
The same writer places this alongside the law of divorce, which was permitted "because of the hardness of your hearts" though it was not so from the beginning. Getting what we insist on can be the very form our correction takes.
Leslie M. GrantGod allows this, therefore, not merely as a concession to Israel's folly, but in order that they might learn by painful experience the results of that folly. Later God tells Israel, "I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him away in my wrath" (Hosea 13:11).
Ruled or Overruled
God's settled plan and His permission are not rivals. Where He does not directly govern an act, He still governs its outcome.
An Outline of Sound WordsHow very encouraging it is to the Christian to know that nothing happens in this world but what subserves the will of God. God is not acting publicly today in the events of the world, as He surely will in a coming day, but His counsel has ordered that everything must work towards the great end of fulfilling His eternal purpose. In that which God does not rule He overrules, even as He makes the wrath of man to praise Him.
Shelter, Not Speculation
For anyone under trial, this doctrine is not a puzzle but a defence. Job's losses came through Satan, but only through a door God opened and measured.
Samuel RidoutNot a hair of the child of God can fall without His permission. Satan is but the unintentional instrument to accomplish God's will; he can do no more than he is allowed to do. How good it is to remember this! If trials come as a host against us, we know that the Almighty is between us and them. They will but work out for us His own purposes of love.
Commentators are careful not to claim more than Scripture gives. Why God permits what He permits is not fully explained to us.
William KellyYes, the mystery of God's permission of evil remains. The mystery of His will is another thing, revealed now, not then... It is not yet the time to order all as the expression of His will, though He is the maker and sovereign disposer of all.
Summary
- Permitted — everything either happens by God's command or by His permission; nothing at all is left to chance.
- Not caused — He is the Judge of sin, not its author, yet He allowed it entry for wise purposes and will make it serve Him.
- Bounded — Satan holds not one atom of power except what is granted, and only so far as God's purposes require.
- Granted — a request answered can be a judgment; Israel's king was permitted so they would learn their folly by painful experience.
- Overruled — what God does not rule directly He overrules, so every permission ends inside His eternal purpose.