Sovereignty & Responsibility: Which One Is It?
The doctrines of divine sovereignty and human responsibility have been debated for centuries. Many who hold a strong view of divine sovereignty have abandoned human responsibility, and many who hold a strong view of human responsibility have abandoned divine sovereignty. On one side the question is: if God is absolutely sovereign, in what sense can we truthfully speak of human choice and freedom? On the other side its: if man is free and able to make choices, in what sense can we truthfully speak of God being sovereign? D.A. Carson gives great advice for this tension. He says, “Rather than choosing between the two, we ought to see this tension as a framework to be explored than a problem to be solved.” The Bible holds both divine sovereignty and human responsibility up as gloriously true and says “YES!” Let me explain:
In Acts 2:22-23 Peter said, “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know, this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”
Notice how Peter holds up both God’s predetermining plan and the people’s guilt at the same time? The text will not allow the people to escape their guilt, and at the same time the text will not allow us to think God was surprised at Jesus’ death, because it was according to His plan. In 1 Kings 8:57-60 Solomon asks God to incline their hearts so that they would walk in His ways. Then in 8:61 Solomon charges the people to be wholly devoted to the Lord and keep all His commands. Is this a contradtiction? No, it is another example of the Bible holding these two doctrines in tension. (For more texts like these see: Genesis 50:19-20, Isaiah 10:5, Jeremiah 29:10-14, 52:3, Joel 2:32, Haggai 1:12-14, 2 Chronicles 30:6-12, Philippians 2:12-13, John 3:27, 11:49-52, 19:10, 13:18-30)
Behind all the willing response of leaders and people, is the Lord moving in His people to give them a heart to obey all that He has commanded. Men are commanded to do things, to believe, to obey, to not sin and rebel, to repent, to turn from their wicked ways, to be wholly devoted to God. God is called Creator, Possessor, Ruler of all things, Elector, and the ultimate cause of all things. Even Jesus Himself, the predetermined coming King, freely and willingly came to His own, only to be rejected (Phil. 2:6-11). So what are we to do with this tension? Move to one side by rejecting the other? No. We’re to embrace the tension as the Bible does and stop there. The Bible holds these two doctrines in tension, and at the same time having no problems doing so! We should do the same. God is sovereign, man is responsible, amen!
