On Divine Providence

Scripture is replete with passages about God’s sovereignty. In fact, the resoluteness of his ordained purpose is a major undertone of the biblical narrative, redemptive history. Yet, the Bible simultaneously affirms the responsibility of human choice, and the dynamic of man acting and God holding him to account is also a recurring theme. Paul articulates this synergy in his exhortation to the church at Philippi in Philippians 2:12b-13. In his mind, there is obviously no contradiction between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. The following compendia offer the biblical support for the sovereign control of the Lord –even over evil, the culpability of man, and the harmony of both.

The steadfast purpose of the Lord pervades Holy Writ, from Genesis to Revelation. His will cannot be thwarted. God preserves, cooperates, and governs for his glory (Col 1:16-17, Job 37:5-13, Eph 1:11, respectively). The humbled Nebuchadnezzar proclaims this truth in Daniel 4:35. Isaiah writes of God’s foreknowledge and foreordination of all that will come to pass (Is 14:24-27, 37:26, 41:22-23, 46:9-11). And, to reverse the consideration, every event aligns to God’s designed plan (Ps 139:16, Prov 16:4, 33, 19:21, Jer 10:23, Rom 8:28). The church at Ephesus reads that their spiritual inheritance is founded in God’s sovereignty (Eph 1:11). And the Lord controls specific aspects of life. This is seen in inanimate creation (Job 37:6-13, 38:32; Ps 104:14, 135:7, 148:8; Matt 5:45) and his rule over the animals (Ps 104:27-29; Matt 6:26, 10:29). The matters of nations and rulers are ordained by the Lord (Ezra 1:1, 6:22; Job 12:23; Ps 22:28; Prov 21:1; Dan 4:34-35; Acts 17:26). And the events of man’s days are formed even before his conception (Job 14:5; Ps 139:16; Jer 1:5; Gal 1:15). God directs man’s talents and abilities (Ps 18:34; 1 Cor 4:7) and even those occurrences which appear to be random (Prov 16:33).

Under the umbrella of these categories is the place of evil. Many stumble at the question of God’s sovereign control over the injury, calamity, and suffering left by the wake of the Fall. Logically, either he is not sovereign and does not cause evil, or he is not good and does cause evil. Biblically, both explanations are wrong. God is holy and does not sin (Lev 19:2). And God is also omniscient and omnipotent (Heb 4:13, 2 Chron, 20:6). Evil does not surprise him, nor is he powerless to stop it. God has control over good and evil (Isa 45:7). The salvific stories of Joseph and Jesus attest to God’s orchestration over the means of evil to accomplish his glorifying ends of good (Gen 41-50, Matt 26-28, cf. Mark 14-16, Luke 22-24, John 18-20). Bruce Ware calls this control asymmetrical in that God’s relations to good is “direct and immediate” because he is good (Ware, 102). On the other hand, his control of evil is indirect and permissive because, again, evil is antithetical to his holy nature. God’s allowance of evil is, in each instance, founded in his divine wisdom and goodness for the purpose of his glory.

In the good and the evil, man is responsible; and this doctrine is also seen in Scripture, from the beginning. Clearly God does not view himself as a mere deterministic puppet master, running the lives of men by strings, because he prohibited Adam and Eve from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:17). Were he to control their lives by acting for them, he would have no need to give them rules. The practice is antithetical. No one tells a plane passenger the rules of aviation. Most people never give a second’s thought to the stipulations necessary for the flight they board. The pilot needs and knows the rules because he controls the plane. If God controls humans in that immediate sense, rules are a moot point. People are just passengers. But he does give rules to man, so in some sense, to some degree, man must be able to choose right or wrong. And when he chooses the latter, he is held responsible for that decision. The Ten Commandments, and every other decree, exhortation, or entreatment, to the nation of Israel, the early Church, and even pagans, speaks volumes for this case.

The question, of course, is how God’s sovereignty and man’s culpable choice harmonize. God’s orchestration of every aspect of Joseph’s journey to Egypt is very evident. He intricately weaves both good and evil to accomplish his purposes in and through Joseph. The evil includes his brothers’ murderous thoughts and betrayal, the lust and lies of Potiphar’s wife, imprisonment, and the forgetfulness of the cupbearer. The good comes in the forms of Joseph’s dreams, Reuben’s protections, Potiphar’s initial favor, the prison keeper’s favor, his prison cellmates’ dreams, Pharoah’s dreams, Pharoah’s favor, and Joseph’s success under Pharoah. It may be asked how can God’s control over these events can be certain. Joseph attributes the interpretations of dreams to God (Gen 41:16), as well as the seasons of prosperity and famine (Gen 41:28, 32). He tells his brothers that it was not them who sent him to Egypt but God (Gen 45:5-8). But each situation, each person, was choosing to make the action he wanted to make. Joseph’s brothers were only thinking of their desire to get rid of Joseph when they sold him to the Ishmaelite caravan. They acted on those desires. They intended to harm Joseph, but God intended it for good to accomplish his purposes (Gen 50:20). And yet the brothers were responsible for their actions, and they knew it (Gen 50:15-21). God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart (Exod 7-11) and control of Assyria (Isa 10) to exact his purposes on Israel are other biblical accounts of his hand over the good and evil actions of humans, while they remain responsible. Peter also clearly believes in this cohesion between sovereignty and human will when he accuses the Jews of killing Jesus (Acts 2:22-23). The Bible declares God’s exhaustive and meticulous sovereignty over every aspect of life. Even so, humans are free to do what their hearts desire most; thus, they remain fully responsible for their decisions.