Bible
Study
Chapter
5:
Section
4: God’s Sovereignty over sin and the
Wisdom of God
By:
Moses Flores
In our last study, we saw how God, though He uses what we know as “ordinary” providence, still remains free to work without, above and even contrary to ordinary providence according to His own will. In all things, God remains completely sovereign over creation and may use whatever means He chooses to use according to His own pleasure.
In this next section of our study on
“The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence, that it extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men; and that not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to His own holy ends; yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.”
The first sentence is what we really need to know from this section; That God’s providence is a display of His almighty power, unsearchable wisdom and even His goodness toward men, especially the Church. We have already affirmed from previous sections that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass (WCF 3:1) as well as God’s constant work of upholding, directing, regulating and governing (WCF 5:1) all of creation including all that happens by the will of rational creatures.
One of the recurring things themes that comes up with the whole idea of the Sovereignty of God and His control and determination of all things is God’s role and the existence of sin and evil. The Westminster Confession here tells us that God’s good providence extends over all things including the fall, as well as all other subsequent sins of both men and even the angels.
We have already dealt with this topic from different perspectives before. Therefore, this portion of the study will seek to further develop what has been previously said as well as to give further proof for God’s absolute control over all things.
Sin on a leash
When most people think of sin and evil, they tend to think of it as something that God usually has nothing to do with except to redeem and save people from it. Even in the classic philosophical problem of evil, the question is stated in such a way that God either has no power to stop it or that He lacks the love to will to stop it. That type of thinking tends to dominate the subject and even in the minds of Christians.
After all that we have said about God’s sovereign control over all things, it can no longer be acceptable to think of sin in such ways. We must come to a Biblical understanding of the relationship between God and sin. Now, we must express from the start a maxim of Scripture that must certainly be our guide in putting this doctrine together. That is, that God CANNOT commit sin. God has not the ability to sin.
This cannot be overemphasized enough because whenever something evil or sinful happens, when it comes to attempting to apply the doctrine of God’s control over all things and sin, it is the tendency of fallen human beings to want to blame God right away for sin. Such was the problem of Adam and Eve immediately after their fall into sin and has been mankind’s inherited problem ever since. Sinners want to fault God for the wrong things that happen. They want to blame Him as the effective cause of tragedy and evil. “God why did you do that?!” “It’s all your fault God! If you hadn’t made the circumstance what they are, then things would have been different!”
As was noted in chapter 2, God’s character is completely and absolutely holy, righteous and just. These are characteristic that God is. God is also truth. Truth, by nature is non-contradictory. Therefore, God cannot be absolutely holy and also be sinful at the same time. God’s nature and being cannot be contradictory. So when we apply the nature of God being truth to His other characteristics, we must hold that God cannot do anything that is unrighteous, unholy or unjust. He cannot. He does not have the ability. Stated in another way, it is impossible for God to do such things. James 1:17 clearly tells us that God is light and there is no “shadow of turning” or “variation of shadow” that is due to change. Malachi 3:6 explicitly declares that God’s essential character does not change.
Now that that is settled, let us seek to further understand God’s relationship to sin.
We have previously seen that God’s decree certainly has decreed all that comes to pass. Nothing that happens in all of creation, in all its farthest reaches, happens apart from the knowledge and will of God. This included the first fall of man. As noted, Calvin called this part of the decree “horrible” in the sense of what had to happen in order for God to bring about His plan of redemption. After all, God could not have devised a plan to save sinners without sinners. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick,” said Jesus (Matt. 9:12). Thus, God had to decree the fall if He was to redeem and save anybody. For who could God have “saved” if they didn’t need to be saved? Obviously no one. Thus, God must obviously use sin in His providence to bring about His own holy and righteous purposes.
Having said this, there are some interesting accounts and words in Scripture that can seem mind boggling if we do not hold to God’s sovereignty in all things, including His control over sin, Satan and even demons. One such account is found in the narrative of the life of David. In 2 Samuel 24, we read,
Again
the anger of the Lord was kindled against
We see in this account that God is
angered against
But David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”
So the Lord sent a pestilence on
David realizes his sin – again, not the census but more than likely the motive for the census – and cries to God in repentance. God hears David’s plea and, through the prophet Gad, give him three choices as his punishment. David’s opts to be handed over to the Lord, rather than flee from the pursuit of his own enemies.
Now, from this perspective of the
event, the only thing that seems a bit strange to us because we are not told
why, is God’s anger at
The account is recorded in I Chronicles 21:1-17. However, we only need to examine 21:1 in order to gain further insight into this event. We read,
“Then
Satan stood against
The information that this text
reveals, at first, may want to lead the person to say, “See! Satan was behind
David’s sin all along. God didn’t have
His hands in it at all.” Such is the
typical response and understanding of most Christians today. However, allowing Scripture to stand on its
own, we still must face the word in the 2 Samuel account in which it is God who
“incited” David to take a census of
Since God cannot sin, we certainly can rule out any understanding that places God as the effective cause of David’s sin. God did not coerce David to sin. But could God have used a creature that was already sinful and allow it to tempt David’s heart to sin? That is, could God have extended some “freedom” to Satan to be what he is by nature as sinful and a tempter? In our last study, we have already affirmed that God is able to use secondary causes “freely” or according to the nature of creature. Moreover, this has already occurred in Scripture before this event. In the first fall of man, Satan, an already fallen creature, instilled a pride in the heart of Adam to rebel against God’s only command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (see Gen. 3:1-6).
The only way to make theological
sense out of what is going on in this passage is that in God’s anger against
There are other instances in
Scripture in which God uses “spirits” in order to bring about His will. For instance, in I Kings 22, King Ahab of
“I
saw all
Essentially, what the prophet tells Ahab is that he is going to die in the battle and the “sheep” would be scattered at the loss of their “shepherd” who is their king and that they would find themselves retreating from the battle. Micaiah continues to further prophesy against Ahab and reveals to him God’s plans for him. He says,
“Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you.” (v19-23)
Micaiah reveals to Ahab that it was God’s intention to kill Ahab at Ramoth-gilead. However, in order to achieve this, God would have to attract him to that location. Thus, God asks the angels – probably holy and fallen – who will entice Ahab to get to that location that he may be struck down by the Lord. One spirit comes forward and says that he will do the Lord’s will by being a “lying-spirit” in the mouth of all of Ahab’s prophets. Thus, Micaiah clearly reveals to Ahab that the prophets who were prophesying success for him were prophesying a lie, or their prophecy was based on a lie. Ahab rejects Micaiah’s revelation and goes to battle and dies in the manner in which the prophet said he would.
Here we see God allowing a “lying spirit” in order to convince Ahab to be at Ramoth-gilead. God did not ask the spirit, or command the spirit, to lie. No, this spirit – most likely a fallen angel – proposed the idea himself to use lies through the false prophets in order get Ahab to believe that he will be successful in his military campaign and be present at the designated location.
These are certainly tough passages of Scripture to deal with without an adequate view of God’s sovereignty and providence, but we can clearly see that God is not the one doing evil or committing sin. Rather, we find God actually governing the amount of sin that is actually committed in the world. For instance, in the book of Job, we know that Satan could not have touched or harmed Job in any way without the authority and permission of God to be allowed to do so. In the same manner, the spirit that enticed Ahab through his prophets could not have done so without God’s authority to be able to do so.
Imagine if sin had “free reign” over all that we know. Society would collapse into anarchy. There would be no sense of morality to keep our sinful nature in check. Murder would be rampant. Violence would rule. Perhaps there might not even be anybody left alive. Maybe our world would become uninhabited especially with nuclear technology that is available nowadays. God’s relationship to sin is that He restrains sin from exacting its full effects on mankind. However, in bringing about His own holy purposes including the salvation and judgment of sinners, God uses sin as it is that He make bring forth His glory.
For instance, in the betrayal of Christ, the Scriptures certain pose that act of Judas a most heinous and treacherous sin against the second member of the blessed Trinity. However, his sin was foreordained by God to happen. Judas was prophesied to betray Christ. Passages like Psalm 41:9, and Zechariah 11:12 (cf. Exo. 21:32) reveal that Christ would be betrayed. John tells us that Jesus knew from the beginning who it was that would betray him (John 6:70-71). But Judas was not an “innocent” man as some movies and recent literature tend to portray him. Rather, the gospels say he was a greedy man and that he would steal from the treasury of Jesus and the apostles (cf. John 12:6; 13:29). When it came time to betray Christ, the Scriptures tell us that “Satan entered Judas” (Luke 22:3-6).
Before the betrayal, the peoples had tried to seize and kill Jesus. But since it was not the appointed time, Jesus was providentially able to slip away from them and avoid being stoned or pushed off of a cliff. Their wickedness was restrained by God. They were not allowed to carry out their sinful plans.
Yet, as sinful as the plans of the Pharisees were to kill Jesus, God used their great and wicked sin in the unjust execution of Christ on the cross to accomplish God’s greatest work in salvation, the atonement. The Scriptures tell us that Christ was not crucified on accident, or as a secondary plan, but rather that Christ was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (cf. Acts 2:23). Christ was handed over by God – He was not taken by Satan for Satan nor sin could not have their way with Christ unless given over by God to them – to do whatever God’s hand and plan had predestined to take place (cf. Acts 4:27-28).
The greatest proof of God’s sovereignty over sin is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. In it, there are lies, betrayal, unbelief, pride, envy, murder, hatred and many other sins that lead up to and were committed during Christ’s death on the cross. Yet in it, there is manifested infinite wisdom, infinite love, immeasurable grace, along with the righteousness and holiness of God. And yet, the cross could not have happened without God allowing sin to happen in the first place. No sin, means no wrath from God; no separation; no forfeiting fellowship with God. No sin, means no need for redemption; no need for propitiation; no need for reconciliation. But this would mean no Gospel. No need to reveal the second person of the Trinity or the third person for that matter. The glories of God and the Gospel that we know would otherwise have remained hidden.
Sin is very real. It is a real evil that if left unchecked it would ruin and destroy all that God has made. But it cannot do this because God does not let it. God, rather keeps sin in check. He governs and regulates how much sin happens. We can recall the incident with Abraham where he told Pharaoh that Sarah was his sister. The ruler wanted to have relations with Sarah but was restrained by God from doing so (see Genesis 12:10-20). Abraham did this also with Abimelech (Gen. 20:1-17). Here specifically God says to Abimelech “for I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her” (v4). Again, God does not approve nor is He is the author of sin in origin nor in practice in the creatures, but when the creatures insist on sinning, as we have seen previously in other studies, God does “hand over” or let the creature “go” as it were into further sin. As the saying goes, “wickedness is its own punishment.”
The Wisdom of God in the sins of men
The beginning of this section of the Westminster Confession begins with the words, “The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence…” The clear meaning of this opening portion of section 4 is that through the sins of men and angels, God manifests His power, His wisdom and even infinite goodness.
It is the contention of the Westminster Confession of Faith that the governance of evil and sin by God reveals to us these great and superior characteristics of God. But how do they do this? How is it that the greatest evil, sin, can reveal to us these great and powerful qualities of God? First, let us consider the power of God as revealed through the occasion of sin.
In order to appreciate the power of God, we must know something about the power of sin as well. We have previously seen that God created all that exist and that through His providence, He upholds and sustains creation. Were God to stop upholding creation, it would cease to be anything at all. It is the nature of sin to deprive God’s creation of any goodness. It is the nature of sin to destroy. Sin is contrary to God. If God is the most excellent being and worthy to be praised, then sin is the most terrible of things and is to be avoided at all cost! Jeremiah Burroughs, a puritan, said this of sin:
“That which, in its own nature, is most opposite to God; that which , in its working, is continually working against God; that which most wrongs God; and that which strikes at the very being of God Himself, must be the greatest evil. Sin does all of these things[1].”
Now, if sin is such a horrible and dreadful thing, how is God’s power seen through sin? First, we note that God is the one who allows sin. That is, without God’s authority, sin cannot just happen. Sin is not some random force that is contrary to God’s plan. It is something that is decretively allowed by God to be used to bring about His plans for redemption. God’s power is also demonstrate in His control over sin. If sin is really such a destructive force and if left unchecked would ruin and destroy all that God has done, even God Himself if it could, surely God’s power is demonstrated in His ability to control exactly what sin will do. Again, as stated previously, sin is not merely allowed to happen. Rather, it is decreed specifically by God that sin will happen and what exactly it will do. Sin has its boundaries clearly defined by God so that it cannot do something that God is not also controlling it to do.
It could be compared to creating a waterway of some sort. We know the nature of water would be to fill and take the shape of the space in which it is placed. Were one to dam up a body of water in order to shape a trench or some sort to get water to where they wanted it and according to the path that they wanted to get it, they would dig out the path and then release the dam to cause the water to travel the carved out path. We wouldn’t have to coerce or force the water in any way to fill the space. Of its own nature, it does what it does. And having the knowledge of knowing what it does can give us a measure of control over it how we can use it.
It is the same with God. He knows the nature of sin. He knows what it will do when put into the circumstances in order to be manifested. Yet God is not the one who is committing the sin. He is allowing the creature to sin according to its nature, yet it remains completely under His authority and control. There is never a “maverick sin” that has escaped the control and authority of God. Thus, that sin even happens displays the power of God in authority and in control of any and all sin.
Secondly, in all the manifestation of sin we are to see God’s unsearchable wisdom. Wisdom, loosely defined, is the correct application of knowledge. Knowing that God knows all things perfectly, including the nature of sin, God is able to apply that knowledge of sin and use it to perfectly control sin. But how is it wisdom to control sin? In order to answer that question, we must remember the end goal of all that takes place in the providence of God, which is first of all His own glory and this includes the glorification of all His attributes as well as the plan of redemption.
All sin that happens is to be measured in the light of God’s plan. What I mean by that, is that we must recognize that all that happens does so by the decree of God. Nothing happens at all that was not decreed first, including the first sin and all subsequent sins. The decree was not random but according to an eternal plan that is intended to bring God glory. Hence, sin, when it happens, in the long run and overarching view of God’s plan serves God.
The wisdom of God is seen in the final outcomes of sin. In the first fall, it took that sin to legitimately have a basis to redeem sinners. What wisdom would there have been in God wanting to display His grace with no death deserving sinners to be gracious to? How would God show mercy to a people who need none? So God, in His wisdom decreed sin, and more than that, the depth of which sin would plunge us to in order that we may see truly the meaning of God’s graciousness and mercy.
One passage that brings out God’s wisdom in the midst of sin and suffering especially is Romans 8:28. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” The “all things” includes the sin and suffering that believers especially must endure in this life. The verse is quite revealing of the big picture and that is how we are to see the wisdom of God in being able to work all things – including sin – for good. Whenever we try to correct mistakes and make the best out of bad situations, we often fail and sometimes end up making things worse. God however, is able to use all that is sinful and wrong to serve Him.
Another example of the demonstration of God’s wisdom in the providential control of sin is from the culmination of Paul’s presentation of the doctrines of election and reprobation in Romans 9 – 11. Within the doctrine of election and reprobation there includes the many sins of the elect and the reprobate alike, include the final unbelief of the reprobate. It is sinful to not believe God. Yet Paul reveals that God has revealed unbelief as part of God’s plan. But that unbelief does not stop Paul from summing up election and reprobation by saying,
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord,
Or who has been His counselor?
Or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid?
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.
Paul surely sees the entirety of all history, the process of the salvation of the elect, as revealing the depths and the riches of God’s wisdom. Paul has elsewhere written in Ephesians 1:3-12 that all the spiritual blessings which belong to believers which are lavished upon us are according to God’s “wisdom and insight” (v9).
Finally, God’s goodness is said to be revealed in the manifestation of sin. God’s goodness is best understood against the wickedness and depravity of sin, and the treatment which sin and those who commit it deserve. When we see our own depravity, when we see the depths of sin, and the wickedness that it is, then we come to understand and see the contrast of it in God. We come to see how good the Lord really is. We begin to understand even more how much we need Him.
To bring out this point, we can look
to the life of Joseph in Genesis 37-50.
In it we see God’s ultimate purpose to exalt Joseph over his brothers
and even his father. We see sin as well. Joseph’s brothers are filled with jealousy
and hatred. In their sin they assault
Joseph but, in God’s providential power over sin, are not allowed to kill
him. Instead, they end up selling him to
traders which brings Josephs to
God’s plan was always intended for good and the His goodness is seen by all, believer and unbeliever alike in saving many from the death of famine.
Summation
To bring it all home, we must always understand that our default position with God in respect to sin is that God Himself never does anything that is sinful. Sin cannot proceed at all from God. However, this does not preclude God’s ability to allow sin, or to be able to use it for His own sovereign purposes in order to bring glory to Himself.
When we as Christians really understand the overwhelming power of sin and how devastating it could be were it left unchecked, then we may come to appreciate the absolute power of God over sin especially His restraint over it and we should be in awe of God when He allows it, especially, as Christians because we know how prone we are to sin. We should be grateful that the Almighty God has not decided to leave us to sin, but has chosen to restrain it and only allows it according to His sovereign permission. That is where our wonder should lie.
[1]
Burroughs, Jeremiah, The Evil of Evils, Soli Deo Gloria Publications,