The gut reaction of many Christians to such a question is a resounding yes. This is demonstrated through internet articles[1] that proclaim God’s while ignoring other issues. To fully address the question we will determine what it means for God to be sovereign, keeping in mind biblical and theological issues like free will as we do so.
Beyond Christian cliché, one perspective sees God’s sovereignty in regards to two distinct wills. R.C. Sproul’s explains this perspective by separating out God’s will into the “decretive will of God”[2] and the “Preceptive will of God.”[3] The decretive will is a declaration of something that will happen according to God’s supreme power. When decreed “nothing can thwart its coming to pass.”[4] Many only think of God’s sovereignty in terms of this will only.[5] This understanding leaves gaps that lead to unsolvable issues and heresy. These difficulties come in two forms: biblical passages and flawed theology. When we take the perspective of God as all powerful and sovereign many passages in the Bible become difficult if not impossible to understand. God at times appears to repent in Genesis 6:6, have a change of mind in Genesis 18:16-33, and wrestle with humans Genesis 32:22-32. A. W. Pink addresses these issues by explaining how Genesis 20:6 shows that God has control over our will “Here is a case where God did exert His power, restrict man's freedom, and prevent him from doing that which he otherwise would have done.”[6] Pink goes on to demonstrate a perspective adhering to solely the decretive will by invoking Calvin to explain that we just do not understand things seemingly contradictive to God’s will.[7] This explanation gets close to fatalism.
Sproul explains that God has a second will that allows for humanity’s freedom, the perceptive will, which centers on the law. “They express and reveal to us what is right and proper for us to do.”[8] This will can be broken and is every day. While the two wills theory explains the issue of human free will, showing where God gives us grace to the kingdom, it fails to address the scriptural issues where God’s power seems to come into question.
Karl Barth takes a different approach that helps revision the answer. He is quick to point out that many wish to address freedom through human history and how God relates. Instead Barth, like Bonhoeffer,[9] sees that we can “speak about man only by speaking about God.[10] The starting point then is God’s freedom, which is self determined, sovereign, and done in unity as Father, Son and Spirit. “In God’s own freedom there is encounter and communion; there is order and, consequently, dominion and subordination; there is majesty and humility, absolute authority and absolute obedience; there is offer and response.”[11] Where others had perceived God’s sovereignty to be freedom from, we now see as communal and freedom to and for.[12] This understanding changes the whole view of Biblical issues and humanity’s free will.
God, as our measuring stick of freedom, then changes what it means for us to be free. We now see this freedom as a gift from God, our freedom is a result of God’s.[13] It is thus that our freedom is also for and not from. To be free for God, and without this we become slaves to other ends such as sin.
In this light we see God’s freedom and sovereignty for in the difficult scriptural passages. God is not separated from in these passages, which would affront sovereignty, but instead is for. While we may not understand how God works, we then can see that our gift of freedom plays into God being for us and God’s free choice to be our humanity’s Lord.
[1] Stan Evers. “What is God’s sovereignty?” Grace Magazine. http://www.gracemagazine.org.uk/articles/geoffthomas/sovereignty.htm (accessed October 15, 2010).
[2] Sproul, R.C. Following Christ. (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1996), Logos 4.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Multiple sources tout God’s sovereignty such as:1) Evers, Stan. “What is God’s sovereignty?” Grace Magazine. http://www.gracemagazine.org.uk/articles/geoffthomas/sovereignty.htm (accessed October 15, 2010). 2) MacArthur, John, Jr. Bible Questions and Answers Part 22. Cassette GC 1301-T. Word of Grace, 1982.
[6] A.W Pink. “The Sovereignty of God.” Christian Classics Ethereal Library. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pink/sovereignty.txt (accessed October 15, 2010).
[7] Ibid.
[8] R.C Sproul. Following Christ. (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1996), Logos 4.
[9] Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together: A Discussion of Christian Fellowship. (San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1954), 36.
[10] Karl Barth. The Humanity of God. (London: Westminister John Knox Press, 1960), 70.
[11] Karl Barth. The Humanity of God. (London: Westminister John Knox Press, 1960), 71
[12] Ibid., 72
[13] Ibid., 75
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