Introduction
Among the most hotly debated topics in church history, few have been argued with such fervent zeal as the topic of God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. Many men throughout church history have debated this topic and have fallen on either side of the issue. There are many questions which are raised by the debate between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. David and Randall Basinger sum up these questions very well:
“The dilemma becomes clear. Can both of these basic Christian beliefs be true? If we are really able to make meaningful moral decisions, then must we not be able to act against God’s will? If this is so, then how can we maintain that all that occurs is in keeping with his will? If humans are free, how can God be sovereign? On the other hand, if God is in control, how can human choices be real? In what sense can we be held responsible for actions if God is responsible for everything?”[1]
The questions raised by the discussion of sovereignty and free will are not simple to answer, nor are they questions which should be dismissed without intense critical thought. Instead, these questions need to be thoroughly examined and critiqued. As Christians, the Bible is the source from which all the answers to theological problems should be drawn. This is certainly a weighty issue, but it this only means that it should receive careful attention from the Biblical standpoint. This paper will seek to demonstrate that the relationship between Divine sovereignty and human will should be approached, not beginning with the will of man, but with the Sovereign decree of the Almighty God—this is where a true understanding of the will of man in relationship to the Sovereignty of God will be discovered. This argument will be supported by Scripture, and also the careful thoughts of theologians who have studied this topic throughout Church History. Much thought will be devoted to both the concept of Divine sovereignty and also human will.
Failure to think out the implications of both sovereignty and free will has led to many errors in thought throughout history. Misunderstandings of this relationship on both sides have led to error. Leaning too heavily to the side of man’s “free will” has led to problems such as open theism, which declares that God does not even know what is going to happen in the future. On the other side, Hyper-Calvinism leads one to believe that the actions of men do not matter at all; this has lead to a form of fatalism which tends toward passivity among those believers. It is important that Christians maintain a properly Biblical balance between these two extremes. Humans have a will which causes them to do what they want; yet, God is also shown to be sovereign over everything that He has created. A Biblical approach to this topic will lead to a proper understanding of the relationship between these two truths.
[1] Basinger, David, and Randall Basinger. Predestination and Free Will. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1986.7.
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