God, Sovereignty, and Free Will

One of the great theological issues that seems to polarize people is boiled down into a great debate between John Calvin and James Arminius -- the great debate between whether or not God is Sovereign or whether or not humans have free will to choose their destiny. First, let me confess -- my own personal experience is raised in a background of Wesleyan-Arminian free-will; at the same time, I am quite appreciative of the offerings, testimony and ministry of those who have been on either side of this great debate and even those who have "switched sides" at some point in their spiritual journey. I find it interesting that it is those who have switched who are clearly the most passionate about their position and convinced that their position is the correct one -- largely because their experiences and their understanding of scripture and their convictions which led to their decision required a significant amount of deliberate effort and some measure of personal cost to make. While at the same time, a majority of others just blindly accept whatever doctrine they have been raised in without too much concern for why they believe what they believe.

To this end, I want to gift this article in an effort to identify some of my own journey, my own reflections on Scripture and on Jesus' means of addressing these concepts as well as to ask the question: "Why is this such a divisive issue for some people?"

First, let me make a statement that acknowledges a significant problem in Christian thought. When we base our theology on a theologian instead of the inherent teachings of Christ and its integrity with all of scripture, we immediately fall into a dangerous area. Theologians are renowned not for having balanced perspectives, but rather for their distinctive assertions. We don't really care about all the things that people agree on -- we just like to pick sides where we see room for debate...In fact, we don't even need to see room for debate -- if someone else sees room for debate and makes a statement contradicting someone else, we immediately draw lines in the sand and begin to choose who we like more.

I would like to pose a few of questions (and try to answer at least some of them here):

1) Why is God's sovereignty determined by our freedom to respond to God's activity?
2) What is free will (really) and what is the impact to free will of a Sovereign God?
3) What is the fundamental nature of God and how does this impact how he chooses to relate to/with us?

A typical Calvinist (reformed or otherwise) would agree that that God's sovereignty implies that He is in control over everything, all of the time and that nothing happens (in heaven or on earth) that He either doesn't speak into existence or consciously allow to happen. God exists outside of time and space and knows all that is and all that is to come -- nothing happens apart from His will. From this perspective, that a person would be able to choose to do something that is against the will of God is inconceivable -- God must have known from the beginning of time that this person would make that choice and he allowed it to happen unhindered -- therefore, it was God's will and not the individual's will that was accomplished. And whether a choice is for good or evil, God has a bigger plan that is ultimately of His choosing and nothing will get in the way of God accomplishing his work.

At this point, if you agree with the assertions above, it's a pretty strong argument.
However, an unshakable argument is only as good as its foundational premises.
If you assert that every thing is God's will, then you are faced with several challenging contradictions:

1. Your decisions don't really matter because whatever you decide has already been decided so you might as well flip a coin because whether you say "yes" or "no" that must be God's will.

2. Every act of sin and evil -- just like every act of repentance and faith must be attributed to God's will -- which seriously brings into question whether or not God is actually loving and whether or not God loves everyone and thus whether or not there is actually hope for everyone (or if God simply excludes some people from his kingdom because he feels like it).

3. If you make an assumption that everything for all of time has been predetermined -- then the entire focus of prayer and intercession is simply to understand God's will and not really to intercede at all. (the good Calvinist answer is to acknowledge that interceding is part of the God's will for us and he knows we will pray and thus has already planned how he will answer).

4. This same assumption says that if God is entirely responsible for bringing you to faith, then it is impossible for you to fall from faith because God is the one responsible and his word cannot fail. Thus -- there is a need to explain away those who have backslidden as either still being safe (despite a life that doesn't reflect Christ) or as having never really been saved in the first place (a more acceptable conclusion, but one that really isn't ours to judge).

Now some argue that it must be all attributed to God because otherwise faith is based on some act of a person and that act is "a work" to which Paul clearly says "you are saved by faith and not by works lest anyone should boast". However, I would argue that if I possess a million dollars and arbitrarily walk up to you and give it to you for no reason other than my will -- clearly you have options about what to do with it. You could accept it freely as a gift, cherish it and use it to bless others, you could reject it outright, you could choose to set it all on fire and destroy it, you could choose to spend it foolishly and waste it all and then return to poverty. All of these things are free for you to choose. In no way did your actions determine beforehand your worthiness to receive the gift. You did not, nor could you by any action before or after truly deserve the gift, but your choices affect how the gift is able to work in and through your life.

In this regard, I challenge that God's sovereignty is in no way limited by my freedom to choose. I would argue that instead of trying to theologize God into some place in time and space where everything is already resolved, let us consider that God by his very design in creating us also chooses to engage with us in present form.

Let's assume that God knows what He wants to get out of all this creation. Let's also assume that God is actively influencing the world and its inhabitants in a billion possible ways every second. Now lets assume for a moment that God willingly surrenders his sovereignty in one small but significant area -- God wants us to love Him, to choose Him -- not because he forces us to, but because we want to. Not because he needs us to, but rather because he takes great pleasure in seeing his prized creation share in his creative order. He let's us choose. Sometimes we choose badly and sometimes we choose well. Sometimes we love, sometimes we hate. All the while, God actively pursues us, chasing us and inviting us to see Him. Now the bible say that God created all things, not necessarily that God causes all things, but rather that He causes all things to work for good for those who love Him. I see this as being a wonderfully exciting part of a great plan by a great and Sovereign God who can use all of our choices to further His plans.

What does this look like?
Our choices matter -- they impact us and the people around us. Choices impact generations and nations, the environment, health, everything is influenced by the choices that people make -- and choices always impact others even when we think they don't. This is the reality of living free. At the same time, God is actively at work, not wanting anyone to perish -- wooing, loving, reaching -- providing opportunity for those who love Him to bring him glory in even the darkest and most terrible of situations. Those who love God are able to see Him at work even in situations that look abhorrent to the rest of the world. Sometimes, we see it in the moment, other times only in hindsight, but when we see circumstances through the eyes of a loving God wanting to redeem everything, we have hope in all kinds of trials and we are motivated to join in the redemptive work of God. We learn from God and about God in times of struggle, not that God needs to cause it (we do that pretty well all by ourselves) but because God continues to love us in the midst of it. It's really very amazing and very powerful, and it is the reason why we don't need to worry.

To say that I have free will then, does not imply that I have an uninfluenced will. None of us are truly free in this regard. We are all prisoners of our upbringing -- our culture, our history, our religion, our countries, our genetics, the choices of those before us and those beside us. The ability to influence decisions is a major portion of our economy. We are supremely influenced by all kinds of things; many of them that are beyond our control. We may be free to choose, but we are far from sovereign (even over our own lives). Even when we think we are making an independent decision, much of the decision making has already been done for us by those things that have influenced us to this point. In this regard, we should be incredibly grateful that God in his infinite love attempts to break into this wall of influence and draw us towards Himself. All of us will have barriers to this, some are greater than others, but God is faithful in his promise that if we seek him will all our heart, we will find him. The gift is that despite all of these influences, all of our barriers and challenges and dispositions -- we all have the opportunity to find peace and freedom in the presence of God through Christ.

When I recognize that I am not and cannot be Lord over even my own life, let alone anyone or anything else, I can surrender to the one who is Lord over all. I can choose to let me single greatest influence be the God of the universe, revealed in Jesus, the Christ -- God who became man -- and proof that God is able to be sovereign and still surrender his sovereignty to show his love.

Which takes me to the final part of this discussion: The fundamental nature of God is not one of control, but rather one of creative force and relational love. It is tragic when extrapolations about God's nature lead us to a place where we start defining God more by the extrapolations (which are our human limited assumptions) than by the very nature of his character that He has shown us through the Scriptures and through his own incarnation in Jesus Christ. In the beginning, God created. God related. Let us create man... He then gave him dominion over the earth and made him responsible and provided boundaries and consequences. God is clearly sovereign, but he is not controlling. He is all-powerful and all-present and all-knowing, but he is also restrained because of His love for his creation. When Jesus came, he did not come with authority and power, but as a humble servant, speaking truth in love that compelled people to follow, not because of prestige or influence, but because real truth, when it is encountered leads to life and life that is more satisfied -- and it was that satisfying truth of Jesus very presence that drew people to himself. He was the "Bread of Life", the "Living Water". He revealed a way of life that elevated people out from all of their previous influences into a new way of being that simply and powerfully works better than anything offered before or since. A life that is bound up in relating to God and walking with Him daily -- a life where every choice matters and every life matters and God is over all and in all, leading those who follow him to be agents of hope in every circumstance.

My hope is that you would seek out the activity of God around you. Listen for him, learn from Him and allow Him to lead you. As He reveals himself to you, you will have many choices to make. Those choices matter -- choose wisely and you will grow in freedom, choose poorly and even what freedom you think you have will disappear. Embrace Jesus -- read and study his life. He did not need to control everything in order to accomplish his work -- and God will continue his work in redeeming the world through all those who choose to join him.

I am so grateful that God has broken through all of the other influences in my life and revealed to me a hope, bathed in grace and forgiveness and flooded with opportunity to see that every day and every decision and every person I meet is a gift from a loving God who dares me to put Him first and follow Him. It is this journey, this pursuit of truth revealed in a daily relationship with Jesus that is the only thing that satisfies. He is my everything.