REFORMED WITNESS
December 1991
God's Counsel and Man's Responsibility
Article by Rev. Herman Hoeksema
From The Standard Bearer, Volume 3, p.366See more articles by this author
Also in this issue:
The Secret Providence of God by John Calvin
God's Counsel and Human Freedom by Rev. G. M. Ophoff
...On the basis of Scripture I can make this first statement, that God is the first cause, also when men are moral agents, it makes no difference whether for good or for evil. Man's freedom and responsibility may not be coordinated with God's counsel and providence. The former is subordinate to and dependent on the latter. For God is God and man is but a very little creature, even though he is a moral and responsible agent. All his deeds, his thoughts, and counsels are so overruled, are so absolutely controlled and directed by the Lord to His own end, that man is but the axe in the hand of the Most High. God is the chief determining cause even of the deeds of men. There are no two or more determining causes in the world, co-ordinate to one another, but God is God alone and He is absolute sovereign. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased, Psalm 115:3.
Of course, this gives us a conception of the proper relation between the sovereign God and man, the moral agent; but it does not quite solve the problem. Two questions must yet be answered, to see a little light on this subject. The first question is: How can man be responsible? To answer it, to a certain extent at least, we must ask this other question: What is responsibility? Does moral accountability presuppose sovereign freedom and moral independence? If that is the case, we must come to the
conclusion that man is no responsible agent; for such sovereign freedom he never did possess, not even before the fall in paradise. Even as for his bodily existence he is from moment to moment dependent on the living God, thus it is no less with his spiritual, intellectual, moral life. 'He is always creature. When we assert that man possesses freedom, we must add, that in his freedom he is dependent, utterly dependent. But it is not true, that accountability requires an absolutely and sovereignly free agent. But it does require that man is the conscious and. rational and
willing subject of all his actions; that he does things because he wills them and chooses them. A slave, forced by his master by brute power to do what is against his will, what he hates to do, is not responsible for his actions. But a man, consciously and willingly committing sin, or performing what is good, remains accountable, no matter how his deeds may be overruled otherwise, by the counsel and providence
of the Most High. Thus, then, we would answer the first question. Man is responsible, because he always remains the moral, the conscious and willing subject of all his deeds. Judas betrays the Lord because he wills it. Not for one moment does he feel compelled by an outward force, that urges him against his own will and choice to deliver his Master into the hands of sinners. Neither, let me add, was any such external compulsion exerted on Judas. And because this is the truth, Judas is the responsible agent, the author of his sin, and God's judgment as well as his own
conscience condemns him. The leaders of the Jews condemn and crucify Jesus. In committing the crime, they act consciously and willingly. There is no conflict between the choice of their heart and the deed they commit. When Jesus is suffering they have all their hearts desired. Neither do they feel that a power, foreign to their own will, compelled them to commit the crime. Hence, they are the authors of their sin. And they are subject to the righteous judgment and condemnation of God. Pontius Pilate delivers Jesus, willingly and consciously. Nothing compels him to commit the crime. He may deceive himself and act the innocent, but this is only the more a manifestation of his evil conscience. Thus it was no different with regard to the first sin of Adam
in paradise. There was no external force which made it compulsory for Adam to sin against the choice of his own will. It was his own, morally free, act. And thus it is with
all the acts of men. However true it may be, that God's counsel shall stand, and that the Most High doeth all His good pleasure, even through the deeds of men, never is the moral consciousness and accountability of man destroyed. God is the cause, but man is the author of his deeds.The second question that must be asked, is: But what then does God determine and how does He so co-operate with men, that they always perform His counsel? To this, I answer first of all, that God never intervenes between the will of man and the deed. His determining influence does not interrupt the action of the will, its manifestation and execution. In other words, never does the Most High so control the deeds of men, that He forces them to commit what they do not will to commit or to perform. The thoughts and desires and deeds of men remain always their own. God stands behind it all, behind the mind, behind the will, behind the heart of man, to turn it as rivers of water, whithersoever He wills. And secondly, I would answer, that the Lord does this through His Holy Spirit. The manner of this operation of the Most High is a mystery to us. We cannot trace the ways of the Infinite. But this must be said, nevertheless, that it is the Spirit of God that convicts men of sin, and that binds the responsibility of every man upon his own heart. For that reason it is impossible that man should ever lose the consciousness of his responsibility. God justifies Himself. He justifies Himself in the cross, both as to the condemnation of the world and the redemption of the elect. He justifies Himself in the conscience of every man, convicting the world because they believe not in Christ, and bringing His people to confession and humiliation before Him. And He will justify Himself in the day of judgment, when all deeds of men shall be manifest and irrevocably and undeniably be bound upon the conscience of every man. And all will confess that God is just and overcomes when He judges. Only thus may we conceive of this problem, though we admit that even so we cannot fathom the ways of God. For only thus is it possible to maintain that God is God alone, that He does all His good pleasure. And even with sin and evil, with the devil and his host, we can commit ourselves safely in the hands of Him, who only is the cause of all things!
The Secret Providence of God
by John Calvin, from Calvin's Calvinism pp. 240-256
See more articles by this author
...The other and more difficult question is, whether it is God that works in the hearts of men, directs all their counsels, and turns their wills this way and that, and prevents them from doing anything but that which He hath decreed they should do. We are not here inquiring whether or not God works all the godly and holy affections which are found in the hearts of His people, because that is, beyond all dispute, certain. The great question is, whether He holds also in the hand of His power all the depraved and impious affections of the wicked, and turns them hither and thither, that they might desire to do that which He hath decreed to accomplish by their means?
Most certainly, when Solomon declares that "the heart of the king is in the hand of God, and that, as the rivers of water, He turneth it whithersoever He will" (Prov. 21:1), his intention is to shew, generally, that not only the wills of kings, but all their external actions are overruled by the will and disposal of God. Moses saith that the heart of Pharaoh was hardened by the Lord Himself. It is in vain here to flee to the common refuge of God's permission, as if God could be said to have done that which He only permitted to be done! And Moses positively affirms that the hardening of Pharaoh's heart was the work of God. Nor, indeed, is the cruelty of the heart of Pharaoh ascribed to the counsel of God in any other sense than when, elsewhere, He is said to have given unto His people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians. For who does not see that savage and ferocious beasts were tamed and made gentle by the power of God, when such men as the Egyptians were turned, on a sudden, to clemency? From what cause and to what end, then, can we say that Pharaoh evinced such inhuman cruelty, but because it pleased the Lord; partly, that He might thereby prove the patience of His people; and partly, that He might shew forth His own almighty power? In this same manner God is said to have "turned the heart of their enemies to hate His people" (Ps. 105:25). Nor does that passage at all alter the case, where it is said, that "Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also" (Ex. 8:32), because we do not make it appear that the minds of men are impelled by any outward influence to do violently, nor do we impute to God the cause of their being hardened; as if cruel and hard-hearted persons did not act spontaneously from their own malice, and become of themselves excited to obstinacy and presumption! What we maintain is, that when men act perversely, they do so (according to the testimony of the Scripture) by the ordaining purpose of God. This is also set forth in another part of the Scripture, where it is said that when the inhabitants of Gibeon set themselves in opposition to Israel, they did so according to the decree and purpose of God, who hardened their heart, as it is said, Josh. 11:20: "For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might destroy them utterly."
...From all that has been said, we can at once gather how vain and fluctuating is that flimsy defence of the Divine justice which desires to make it appear that the evil things that are done, are so done, not by the will of God, but by His permission only. As far, indeed, as those evil things which men perpetrate with an evil mind are, in themselves, evil, I willingly confess (as I will immediately more fully explain) that they by no means please God. But for men to represent God as sitting unconcerned, and merely permitting those things to be done which the Scripture plainly declares to be done, not only by His will, but by His authority, is a mere way of escape from the truth, utterly frivolous and vain....
We have not yet, however, met the great objection of our adversaries: "If all things are done (say they) according to the will of God, and men can do or design nothing, but as He wills or ordains, God must be the author of all evils." That distinction which formerly prevailed in the schools, and is now everywhere current, is perfectly true; provided it be rightly understood -- "that the evil of the punishment, but not the evil of the fault, proceeds from God." But some inexperienced ones, imagining that the matter in question can be settled in one short word, pass by in security the very point at issue, namely, "How God can be free from blame in that very deed which He Himself condemns in Satan and in the reprobate, and which He declares that men condemn in their fellow-men." For both evils are often seen in the same work, not in different works, namely, that the praise of the punishment must, of necessity, be ascribed to God, and the fault of the act to man. For instance, robbers carry off the cattle of the holy Job. The deed is cruel and disgraceful. Satan by this means drives the patriarch to desperation; a machination still more detestable. But Job declares another to be the author of it all! "The Lord gave (saith he,) and the Lord hath taken away." Nor is Job wrong in attributing that to God which, in another sense, could be imputed to the robbers only. For the patriarch, as if beholding with uplift eyes the things that are decreed on the throne of God in heaven, confesses that the Lord took away by the hands of the robbers those things which they could not have touched but by His authority and command. All this Job explains in the words which follow: "The Lord hath done whatsoever pleased Him."
...there are two things which claim our deep consideration: the just judgment of God, by which He testifies that He hates the sin, which He thus visits with its due punishment; and the wickedness of man, which stands directly opposed to the will of God. If such infinite brightness should dazzle our mental vision, what wonder when the eyes of our body cannot endure the sight of the natural sun! For is the vision of the body stronger than that of the mind? Or is the brightness of the majesty of God less than that of the natural sun? Wherefore, it behooves us not to be too acute in our penetration into the splendour of the Divine Majesty! Lest, in the meantime, we either deny that to be true which the Scripture plainly teaches and confirms by experience, or lest we dare consider this or that to be, as we think, not quite consistent with the character of God. "When the last day (says Augustine) shall have come, then will be seen in the brightest light of understanding that which the godly now hold in faith, until it shall be then understood by the fullest comprehension. How sure, immutable and all-efficacious is the will of God! and also, how many things He can do, and yet not will! But that He wills nothing that He cannot do!"
Who does not tremble before these stupendous judgments of God, by which He does whatsoever He will even in the hearts of men, rendering unto them all the while according to their works!
Augustine
God's Counsel and Human Freedom
by Rev. G.M. Ophoff
From The Standard Bearer, Volume 20, p. 418See more articles by this author
We reaffirm, human freedom and the sovereign counsel of God do not involve us in a logical contradiction at all. What we do deal with here is a mystery. God maintains
Himself in the heart, desires, will, and mind and all the works of His, rational-moral creatures, without destroying their psychological freedom and thus their human responsibility, and without involving Himself in the sinfulness of their doings. How is this possible? As far as I know there is no answer. At least I have no answer of such a kind, an answer so penetrating that the matter with which we here deal ceases for us to be a mystery. After all has been said, the matter continues to defy our powers of penetration. We certainly cannot get at the bottom of the bottomless. God's people walk in those good works which God in Christ prepared for them and realizes in them. This is already wonderful. But the mystery deepens when we come to the wicked works of the godless. God sovereignly hardens them. He gives them over to a reprobate mind to do things that are wicked, says Paul in Romans. Then there is the Scripture to the effect that he turned the hearts of the Egyptians to hate His people. He forms the light and creates evil. Though His counsel and providence is the sovereignly determining factor also of all wicked deeds of men, yet man remains free and thus responsible and God goes out blameless. Explanations have been given, which I do not produce here. But let me repeat, after all has been said, the mystery remains.
It is fully evident, from the testimonies of the Scripture, that God works in the hearts of men to incline their wills whithersoever He pleases, whether it be to confer good according to His mercy, or to inflict evil according to their deserts, and all according to His purpose and decree, which is sometimes purpose manifest and sometimes hidden, but always manifest just! For it ought ever to be deeply fixed in our hearts our hearts that there is no iniquity in God.
Augustine
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