The Providence of God in Matthew 10:28-31
The Providence of God in Matthew 10:28-31
In Matthew 10:16-42, Jesus discusses persecution. In verses
28-31, He gives His disciples the proper perspective on persecution and a
strong security for endurance. He says, "Do not fear those who kill the
body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a
cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your
Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not
fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows." Jesus is telling His
disciples that they need not fear in the midst of persecution because God
protects them.
I wish to focus in on verse 29, where Jesus says "Are not two
sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the
ground apart from your Father." What does Jesus mean when He says "apart
from your Father?" Some interpret it as "apart from your Father's
knowledge"; others as "apart from your Father's will."
Which is it?
If Jesus is saying that not even a sparrow can die apart from the
will of God, then He is making a very extensive statement about
the scope of God's control in the world. He is basically saying, "If God
controls even the seemingly insignificant death of a sparrow, how much
more certain should you be that He controls all of the circumstances of
your own lives--even the seemingly insignificant details! Therefore,
take courage in persecution. Nothing can happen to you apart from the
loving plan of God." Jesus, therefore, seems to be affirming that God
controls all things in our lives--even the seemingly minor details. This
is strong confirmation of the exhaustive Providence of God.
What if the proper interpretation, however, is that not one
sparrow "will fall to the ground apart from your Father's
knowledge"? Would this change our above conclusions? I do not
think it would. Even if we assume that Jesus was referring to God's
knowledge, it would still lead to the conclusion that God controls all
things in regards to the lives of His children.
If Jesus was referring to God's knowledge, then His point was to
say that even the littlest things are objects of God's attention.
In this context, the sparrow's flight being an object of God's attention
would imply that God cares for the sparrows. This is because Jesus is
illustrating God's care for us by pointing out that God cares for
sparrows. Because God cares about sparrows, Jesus is able to exhort us:
"So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows." How could
this comforting command have any force if God did not care about the
sparrows?
Now we can take this a step further. If God cares for the
sparrows, even in regards to their deaths, then it means that He has a
preference in regards to what happens to them. Isn't that what it
means to care for something--there are certain things you want to happen
to it, and certain things you don't? So, if God cares about the death of
sparrows, it must mean that He is concerned about when they die and how
they die.
At this point we must ask, what is God's will? His will is
simply what He wants to happen. "My counsel shall stand and I
will accomplish all of my good pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10). God's counsel,
or "will," is in this verse equated with His "good pleasure," or what He
wants. Thus, God's will is what He wants to happen. So, in other words,
God's will is His preference.
We have already seen that God, since He cares about sparrows,
must have a preference about what happens to them, and this preference,
Jesus says, extends to when they die. But since God's will is His
preference, this is equal to saying that God has a will for each
sparrow. This means that, in regards to each sparrow, God has a will
about when they will die and how they will die.
The first question we must ask in light of this is, can God act
to bring about His preferences and ensure that they happen? The answer
must be yes, for God says He "will accomplish all [His] good
pleasure." Job tells us that none of God's purposes can fail (Job
42:2). Thus, nothing can stop God from accomplishing His will.
Therefore, God's will for each sparrow must determine when it will
die.
Further, in the context of Matthew 10, what good would it do for
Jesus to point out that God has a preference for what happens to the
sparrows unless God is able to bring to pass His preferences? For, if
God was unable to bring to pass His preferences over sparrows, how
could this provide comfort to His disciples that He is able to protect
them? Jesus tells us not to fear because if God is concerned
about sparrows, surely He is concerned about us. But what comfort would
this be if God did not control what happens to us?
So, Jesus seems to be saying, if God has preferences in regards
to sparrows (and is able to bring them about), then He has
preferences in regards to us (and is able to bring them about). Since
His preference is His will, then He has a will--or plan--concerning what
will happen to us. This will must therefore be just as extensive as
God's concern for us, since His will is His preference. The text says
that God's preferences for us cover all things, since He cares about all
things about us. Thus, since God is able to bring about His will, and
His will extends to all aspects of our lives, then God must control all
aspects of our lives.
One may say that just because God is able to bring about His
preference, that does not mean that He will. In a sense, I agree because
there are many things that God wants in and of themselves and does not
bring to pass. However, the reason He does not bring them to pass is
because there is something that He wants more, not because there
is something preventing Him from doing His will. Thus, God's preference
is still done. It should be clear, however, that when I speak of God's
preference being done, I mean His greatest preference in regards to the
situation. Now, if God is able to bring to pass His greatest preference,
and there is nothing that can stop Him, does that necessarily mean that
He will? Of course, for how could we really call His greatest preference
if He was not concerned enough to bring it about?
An example may help at this point. In and of itself, God does
not want His children to suffer persecution. However, He does allow it
to happen. Why? Because there is something that He wants more than
keeping us from all persecution. That something more is the purification
of our faith that happens when it is tested (1 Peter 1:6-7) and the
holiness that we grow in as we endure for Christ's sake and the glory
that He gets when we faithfully endure under trial. So, if persecution
will bring a greater good to us in the long run, then He will allow it to
happen because He desires the greater good more than keeping us
completely from all persecution.
So, we have seen that God's greatest preference for us is His
will, and since His preference extends to all things, so does His will
for us. Since God is always able to accomplish His will, this means that
nothing will happen to us except what God has planned for our greatest
good and His greatest glory. This is great comfort in persecution, for
it gives us confidence of God's protection. Thus, even if Jesus meant
that not one sparrow dies apart from God's knowledge, His point still
seems to be that we can take courage because God controls all
circumstances of our lives.
There is further confirmation of this in the text. Jesus clearly
assumed that God did control what would happen to us, for He said that
"not a hair of your head will perish" though they will kill many of us.
If God can keep hairs from perishing, then He can keep a person from
dying if He wants and can keep any other bad thing from happening. Thus,
if a Christian does die in persecution or is injured, it is because God
allowed it as part of His plan for their greater good.
Thus, the whole context seems to be clear that Jesus is not
simply comforting His disciples with the fact that God knows about and
watches them; He is comforting them because God watches over them.
Jerry Bridges concludes our discussion well. "God does not
exercise his sovereignty in only a broad way, leaving the smaller details
of our lives to "chance" or "luck." That is precisely Jesus' point. God
our Father, who exercises his sovereignty in such minute detail as to
control the destiny of a little bird, will certainly exercise his
sovereignty to control even the most insignificant details of our
lives."[1]
Notes
1. Jerry Bridges, "Does Divine Sovereignty Make a Difference in Everyday
Life?" in The Grace of God, the Bondage of the Will (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Books, 1995), p. 207.
All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, by the Lockman Foundation.
MP
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