It’s not long before a Christian encounters the tension in the Bible between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. I remember facing that tension myself as a younger Christian. Admittedly, it seems to be introduced to us from the outside. Others are talking and debating about it while we listen in. Eventually, we must try and reconcile the tension for ourselves. But because this debate can be rather polarising, we are prone to pick sides based on the most vigorous debater in our early encounters with this tension. Regardless, the tension must be addressed because once you hear about it, you will see it throughout the Bible.
Don Carson is a proponent of a sort of middle way. Although I don’t think he would like that term. It’s not really a middle way. Don calls it ‘compatibilism’. To put it crudely, compatibilism doesn’t seek to alleviate the tension by either emphasising human responsibility or emphasising God’s sovereignty. Instead, it puts the two side-by-side and lets the tension sit very uncomfortably in our craniums. Simply because that’s how the Bible puts it. At times God is shown to be contingent upon human responsibility, and then at other times, God is described as being beyond any limiting contingency.
Basically, the two sit side-by-side in the Bible at times.
But a good practice might be to let them sit side-by-side, to look at the data and hold that tension within our minds. Let’s have a look at some examples.
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Gen 50:20)
This is a classic text for seeing the actions of humanity at work for evil yet the Lord at work to accomplish what is good, namely the saving of many lives. Joseph states earlier that his brothers are not the ones that sent him into slavery (although they literally did), but it was God (45:8). Both the brothers of Joseph and the Lord have specific intentions in the same actions. Both the brothers of Joseph and the Lord are at work in the same actions. But ultimately good is accomplished as the Lord intended.
“Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.” (Lev. 20:7–8)
The people of God are called to be holy. They are to actively seek after holiness motivated by the character of God and his holiness. Yet in the very next clause, God is the one that makes them holy. We see the people of God seek holiness all the while God makes them holy.
“His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines” (Judg. 14:4)
In this passage, Sampson’s father berates him for seeking a wife amongst the Philistines. Without a doubt, Sampson’s actions are not commendable. He certainly isn’t seeking holiness as we just looked at above in Leviticus 20. But what his parents don’t know is that Sampson’s actions are ‘from the Lord.’ This will eventually lead to the Philistine’s defeat at the hands of Sampson. Sampson is choosing to walk a path contrary to the way the Lord has called him to live in the law, but the Lord is at work bringing this about at the same time. God is going to punish the Philistines through Sampson, but Sampson’s unholy motivations still do not sully the holiness of God.
“Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”” (2 Sam. 24:1) see also 1 Chr 21
Although it is unclear precisely what David did wrong in this scene, it is very clear that for some reason, of which the reader is not given, David has sinned against the Lord. Yet David is incited by God to go about the action which he is condemned for. It is such a clear portrayal of the tension. God incites David to an act that he thereafter condemns. However, David is morally responsible for his actions. Neither human responsibility nor God’s sovereignty are limited. Which is both profound and frustrating for the human mind. To complicate matters further, 1 Chronicles 21 includes Satan as an agent in this scenario as well.
“The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.” (1 Kings 12:13–15)
In this scene, Jeroboam was representing the people of Israel who are seeking favour with the king Rehoboam. However, Rehoboam doesn’t listen to the older and wiser counsellors but to the younger counsellors to the detriment of the people of Israel. Again, we see the tension. Rehoboam chooses to act foolishly, and as the story progresses his decision is detrimental. Yet Rehoboam’s folly is attributed to the Lord, this turn of events came from the Lord so that he might fulfil his word spoken by Ahijah.
““Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! I send him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations.” (Is. 10:5–7)
This one is crazy too! The Assyrian army is upheld as the rod of God’s anger and the club of his wrath. It is his tool, and he is using it to punish the disobedience of his people. Yet the Assyrians are cursed with woe from the Lord himself who has called them to this task. But there is a reason for the pronounced woe on the Assyrians. It is because they consider their strength their own and not from God. The Assyrians took up arms against Israel of their own violent and destructive will, and yet that is also the Lord’s will.
“[Zedekiah] did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done. It was because of the LORD’S anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.” (Jer. 52:2–3)
In this passage, it is the divine wrath of the Lord that is the cause of the evil which Zedekiah lets loose. Zedekiah’s rebellion, which is akin to the rebellion of evil kings before him, is of course his own rebellion. Zedekiah “did evil in the eyes of the Lord”, but it was because of the Lord’s anger that Zedekiah lets this evil loose. To paraphrase this passage, the Lord, in his anger, caused Zedekiah to do this evil. But it is Zedekiah who is responsible for the evil.
“And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.” (Joel 2:32)
Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, however at the end of the verse, it is the Lord who calls his people. It’s as if the two are interchangeable, people are saved as they call on the Lord, and Yahweh calls people to himself and saves them.
I hope your head hurts. My head certainly hurts. Our minds are struggling to comprehend this indissoluble tension, and it’s giving us cognitive dissonance. That’s perfectly fine. It just highlights our humanness.
What these passages ought to encourage us to do is hold in our minds the tension which they hold. These are the Scriptures after all (and these are only a selection). God is presenting us with this tension. One way to alleviate the tension is to emphasise either human responsibility or God’s sovereignty. But that is not the way of these passages. They hold the two in tension, and so must we.
Carson, D. A. (2002). Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility: Biblical Perspective in Tension. Wipf and Stock Publishers. (p.9-17)
Bigvai and Shiphrah 