Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

It has often been said that people who teach that God is sovereign and that man is still responsible for his actions are sending mixed signals. To tell you the truth, sometimes I feel that way too, yet I believe that this is due to our inability to communicate or understand clearly rather than that the two positions are mutually exclusive.
What is the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility? Well, it is to a large part a mystery, for the secret things belong to God (Deut 29:29), and yet the part that is not a mystery is what has been revealed to us in Scripture. Here is my understanding of what the Scriptures teach us about the subject, as best as I can explain it.

Truth #1 – God has complete power over all things in creation.
The Bible teaches us that God is all-powerful or sovereign. This means that nothing comes to pass that He does not allow to come to pass. Nothing is beyond His power. All things happen according to what He has determined beforehand should happen.

Isa 43:1313 "Indeed before the day was, I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?"

Isa 46:9-11 “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure,' Calling a bird of prey from the east, the man who executes My counsel, from a far country. Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it."

Isa 45:77 - "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.'

Isa 48:3- "I have declared the former things from the beginning; they went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it. Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass."

Isa 14:24 -“The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand:”

Prov 19:21- “There are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless the LORD'S counsel-- that will stand.

Prov 16:33 -“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”

Ps 135:5-7 - “For I know that the LORD is great, and our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the LORD pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places.”

Ps 115:3 -“But our God is in heaven; he does whatever He pleases.”

Ps 33:10-11 -“The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.”

Dan 4:35 -“All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; he does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, "What have You done?"

Job 42:2- "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”

Lam 3:37-38 -“Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed?”

1 Chr 29:11-12 -“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.”

Eccl 3:14 “I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God does it, that men should fear before Him.”

Eccl 7:13 -“Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?”

Matt 10:29 -"Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will.”

Eph 1:11 -“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,”


Truth #2 - All men choose according to their own desires and are held accountable for those decisions.
The Bible also teaches us that all men are held accountable for the decisions that they make. Each of us will be judged according to our obedience to the revealed will of God (the law and gospel as revealed in the Scriptures). We are the ones that make our own decisions according to the greatest desires of our hearts and are therefore totally culpable for those decisions.

James 2:12 -“So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.”

2 Thes 1:8 -“In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Rom 2:12 -“For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law.”

2 Cor 5:10 -“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

Rev 22:12 -"And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.”

Rev 20:12 -“And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”

Col 3:24-25 -“knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.”

Rom 2:5-11 -“But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who "will render to each one according to his deeds": eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness-- indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.

Matt 16:27 -"For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works”

Isa 3:10-11 -"Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him.”


Truth #3 – God is not the author of evil.
The Bible also teaches us about the holiness of God. God hates sin. He cannot look upon sin. He does not commit sin nor does He tempt anyone to sin.

Job 34:10 -"Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding: far be it from God to do wickedness, and from the Almighty to commit iniquity.” (Job 34:10)

Hab 1:13 -"You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.”

Zeph 3:5 -“The LORD is righteous in her midst, he will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; he never fails, but the unjust knows no shame.”

Ps 34:15-16 -“The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.”

Ps 5:4-5 -“For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; you hate all workers of iniquity.”

James 1:13 -“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”

1 Pet 1:15-16 -“but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."


Hence, we have three concurrent biblical truths. They are all true all the time and they are not mutually exclusive but coalesce perfectly with each other in God’s world. How do these truths coalesce? Some say that we cannot grasp how they work together and form one truth. They say by faith we must just accept them all as absolutely true because God’s Word teaches them and we are to live by faith in the belief of all of them. This may well be the case.For others that is not good enough. We all tend to long for some explanation of how these truths are in harmony with one another rather than contradictory. For these I proffer my best attempt at an answer:

God’s will is always perfectly accomplished in these various possible ways:

1) Since God knows each man perfectly, He directs all things so that we will choose to do exactly what God wants us to do. This way we are accountable, because we are choosing according to our own desires. We are acting on the intents of our own heart. God, knowing those intents and desires perfectly, then arranges the events of life so that we act on those intents in the given situations, thus fulfilling His perfect sovereign will. This way, in the end, His will is perfectly accomplished (sustaining His sovereignty), we make our choices alone (sustaining our responsibility), and God is wholly sinless (sustaining His holiness). One instance of this in Scripture is the story of Joseph and his' brothers. The familiar ending to the story is "But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." (Gen 50:20) Or…

2) Since our whole person is corrupted by sin, God graciously imparts new good desires within our hearts so that we make the right decision. God, in His great love and mercy, changes the inclinations of our hearts so that we desire to do good more than evil, and thus fulfill His sovereign decree when that sovereign decree is for us to do that good. This way, in the end, God’s good, pleasing and perfect will is still done (sustaining His sovereignty), we still choose according to the greatest desires and intents of our hearts (sustaining our responsibility), and God is wholly righteous (sustaining His holiness). One instance of this in Scripture is in Ezra.Ezra 1:1 – “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing”. Here we see that God stirs the heart of a king so that His (Gods) will would be fulfilled. The king still chose according to His desires, yet it was Gods will that was perfectly accomplished by the stirring a mans heart.

The final and ultimate example of this truth is found at the cross.
Acts 2:23 - "Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death”
Acts 4:27-28 -"For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.”

In these verses we see that the sinful actions of men, from those of Herod and Pilate, to those of the multitudes in the crowds, and Judas, were all to accomplish God’s purpose. All of these men sinned and will be held accountable for their sin (ie “lawless hands”), yet their sin was what God had “determined” beforehand to be done.”

How perfect and glorious is the unity of divine sovereignty and human responsibility! I do hope that this has clarified things a bit. God is great! He is the holy King of the universe. All authority in heaven and on earth are His. At the same time, we are accountable to this King for obeying His rule and submitting to His authority. In the end we can trust Him with absolute confidence because He will bring everything to pass that is His GOOD, PLEASING and PERFECT WILL, which is consequently good, pleasing, and, yes, perfect for us! Hallelujah and Amen!