The Sovereignty and Will of God

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The Flower Falls

24 min readDec 6, 2021

God’s Sovereignty in All Things

Whether spoken of as fate or destiny, whether it was written in the stars or simply meant to be, ideas about predestination have circulated for thousands of years. A song in 1956 even referenced predestination: “Que Sera, Sera.” Encased in each of these ideas is the belief that everything that has ever happened or ever will happen has been predetermined; “Whatever will be, will be.” Calvinists have their own term to describe whatever will be, will be. They call it God’s will and believe everything that happens is God’s will and part of his sovereign plan.

I listened recently as a young man said the debauchery he participated in before he surrendered his life to Jesus was God’s will for him. And, only a few days ago, a friend consoled herself with the idea that whatever happens is God’s will. This idea brings comfort to many people, but the same idea is the cause of tremendous confusion and pain for others:

· Was it God’s will that a loving husband was killed in a fiery car crash, leaving not only his young wife behind but also two young boys who loved their daddy dearly?

·Was it God’s will when a devoted wife of thirty years received the news that her husband, who also happened to be a pastor, was leaving her to be with another woman?

· Were the numerous school shootings in recent years God’s will?

· Is it God’s will that children be abused by people entrusted to protect them?

· Are slavery, racism, and sexism God’s will?

John Calvin claimed, “The counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined.” And, explaining Augustine’s view said, “There cannot be a greater absurdity than to hold that anything is done without the ordination of God.”(1)But if his words are true, we not only can credit God’s will for car crashes, childhood abuse, slavery, sexism, and school shootings, we can also credit it for our laziness, selfishness, inconsistent prayer life, complaining heart, pride, and unkindness to others.

Even so, many people agree wholeheartedly with Calvin’s assessment. Some even go so far as to say that those who don’t agree have a small view of God, and that denying God ordained everything as part of his will not only denies his sovereignty, it robs him of his rightful glory.

What God’s Will Is

God is absolutely sovereign. He can do whatever he pleases, including ordain and predestine every thought and event in human history. But having the power and authority to do something and actually doing it are entirely different matters. Calvinists make confident assertions about God’s sovereignty and plan for the world, but when attempting to support their claims, they add to select Scripture passages while ignoring others, interpret passages out of context, and assign definitions to words that aren’t supported by either the biblical text or the cultural context in which they were written.

Do the Scriptures support the idea that everything that happens was ordained by God? Is it true that we surrender the sovereignty of God if we don’t credit every calamity to him as part of his will or sovereign plan? The answer to these questions largely depends on how one defines words like sovereignty, will, and ordain.

Webster’s dictionary defines sovereign as: “1 above or superior to all others; 2 supreme in power, rank, and authority; 3 of or holding the position of ruler, royal, reigning; 4 independent of all others; 5 excellent; outstanding; 6 very effectual.”(2)

These definitions aren’t necessarily inspired by the Holy Spirit, but I hope we can agree that God is all these things and more. Though the word sovereign is used to describe kings, rulers, and nations, he’s most definitely superior to all others, supreme in power, independent of all others, excellent, and effectual. However, there is nothing within these definitions to indicate he predetermined everything that takes place as part of his sovereign will. The same is true of the scriptural use of the word sovereign.

The words translated “sovereign” in the Old Testament are malak, malku, malkuth, malkuyah, and mamlakuth. Each time they’re used they refer to kings, kingdoms, royalty, and reigning — both of Almighty God and of earthly rulers. The New Testament is similar. When writing to Timothy, Paul used the same word for sovereign to describe God in 1 Timothy 6:15 that Luke used in Acts 8:27 to describe the Ethiopian eunuch of Queen Candace’s court. Rest assured, this simple fact in no way means the scope or majesty of their sovereignty is equal. Speaking of God’s sovereignty, David wrote in Psalm 103:19, “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.”

There may be nothing more comforting for those who hope in the Almighty God of the universe than to know he is not only the Creator of all, he is also the only true Sovereign, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. All other sovereigns are subject to him. Truly, his sovereignty rules over all. However, neither the definition of sovereign nor the context of the verses that use the word indicates that everything that happens is his sovereign will or plan.

What is God’s will? Simply put, Paul said, “God desires all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). The word translated “desires” here is thelo, the verb form of thelema. Combined, these words are translated as “will” more than 250 times in the New Testament; but little more than forty of those verses reference the will of God, and only a handful speak specifically about what his will is.

In addition to God’s will being that all men be saved, Paul wrote:

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you” (1 Thessalonians 4:3–6).

Then, later in the same letter, he wrote:

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil (5:16–21).

Years before Paul wrote those words, Jesus spoke specifically of his Father’s will when he called a child to himself and said to his disciples, “It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish” (Matthew 18:14).

Jesus’ words and Paul’s claim that God desires all men to be saved are consistent with the whole of Scripture. After speaking of himself as a “righteous God and a Savior,” the Lord said in Isaiah 45:22, “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” And later, in Ezekiel 18, he spoke of the possibility of the righteous turning away from their righteousness and the wicked turning away from their wickedness (vv. 21, 24). Then, turning his attention to people of the house of Israel who dared to claim his way was not right, he said,

“Is my way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and dies because of it, for his iniquity which he has committed he will die. Again, when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life. Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die” (vv. 25–28).

The Lord went on to speak of future judgment for the house of Israel and urged the people to repent and turn from their transgressions, then concluded with this beautiful statement and plea: “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies…Therefore, repent and live” (Ezekiel 18:32).

The Lord’s declaration that he takes “no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” together with Paul’s assertion that God desires all men to be saved and Jesus’ claim that it’s not the Father’s will that any of the little ones perish, seems to require creative interpretations from people who claim everything that happens is God’s will — unless they believe that all men are saved.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). If God’s will is always done, I can’t help but wonder why he instructed his disciples to pray in this way. While Calvin claimed everything that happens is God’s will, Jesus’ words seem to indicate his will is not yet always done. And the evidence is not limited to his prayer.

Remember the words of Jeremiah 7:30–31:

“For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord, “they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not enter My mind.”

The actions spoken of in this passage were so evil that, rather than suggesting he had ordained them as part of his will or plan, the Lord said they didn’t even enter his mind. Then, in case anyone was (or is) tempted to forget his words, he repeated them almost verbatim in Jeremiah 19:4–5 and later still in 32:35 where he called what the people had done an abomination. All of these passages challenge the idea that everything has been ordained by God as part of his will. And they aren’t alone. As we saw in chapter 2, speaking of false prophets, the Lord said:

“The prophets are prophesying falsely in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them” (Jeremiah 14:14).

“I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied” (Jeremiah 23:21).

“Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ . . . “I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit” (Jeremiah 23:31–32).

Does it seem reasonable to suggest that all these things were God’s ordained will when he himself said he didn’t send the false prophets or command them — in fact, it didn’t enter his mind?

What God’s Will Isn’t

The confusion surrounding the idea that God has foreordained all things as part of his will continues when reading Isaiah 5. It begins with a description of a vineyard planted by the Lord with choicest vines on a fertile hill that had the stones removed. Yet, it fell short of the expectation that it would produce good grapes: “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?’” (Isaiah 5:1–4).

Is it sensible to say it was the Lord’s will that his vineyard produced worthless grapes when he said he expected it to produce good ones? To gain a more comprehensive view of what he said, it’s important to read the entire chapter or more, but I’ll highlight just a couple of passages. Verse 7 says he “looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.” Then, after continuing for the next several verses to speak a variety of horrible woes, he said, “So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel” (v. 24).

Destruction eventually came to Israel; but the idea that it was God’s will not only reads something into the text, it contradicts what the Lord actually said. Later, referring to the house of Jacob he said, “Woe to the rebellious children . . . who execute a plan, but not Mine, and make an alliance, but not of My Spirit . . . who proceed down to Egypt without consulting Me” (Isaiah 30:1–2).

These passages and their greater context seem to contradict the idea that God’s will is always done on Earth as it is in heaven. The same might be said about the times in which we live. Consider: Is God’s will as it’s expressed in the Scriptures always done in the world today? How about in your own life? Before answering that question, it might help to recall Paul’s words to the Thessalonians: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18). How successful are you at doing God’s will?

When faced with the many passages that provide a reason to question the idea that everything has been ordained by God and that everything that happens is his will, Calvinists overlook the simplicity of God’s words and assert he has two wills. They speak of his “sovereign will and moral will, efficient will and permissive will, … will of decree and will of command.” And, referring to Deuteronomy 29:29, his secret will and revealed will.(3)

Please don’t get me wrong, we can rejoice that the secret things belong to God. As the sovereign Creator he has the power and authority to do whatever he wants without our knowledge or consent. However, the idea that he has a secret will that’s in opposition to his revealed will suggests that he is double-minded and puts us in the awkward position of trying to reconcile the conflict in our mind — then hope no one presses us to explain it.

A sovereign has a domain (or sphere of influence), people who are subject to him or her, plans and laws to govern and protect the people, and authority to carry out judgment. As King of kings and Lord of lords, the God of the universe has all these things. He, indeed, rules over all. He can do what he wants, and no one can ward off his hand (Daniel 4:35). However, nothing within the biblical or secular definition of sovereign indicates he ordains every action in his Kingdom as part of his will.

Let’s look at one more passage that may help our understanding of God’s will. Jeremiah 18 opens with the Lord telling Jeremiah to go to the potter’s house. Jeremiah did as God asked; and, as he watched the potter fashion spoiled clay into a new vessel, the Lord spoke to him:

“Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as the potter does? Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation to build up or to plant it; if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it”(Jeremiah 18:6–10).

This passage reveals the Lord’s sovereign power and ability to bring about blessing and calamity, but the words translated “will” are helping verbs, not nouns. In other words, they don’t speak of God’s will. If they did, we would be forced to say that his will changes based on the actions of others — which simply is not true. God’s will, as expressed in the Scriptures, doesn’t change; but this passage indicates what he will do could change, based on people’s responses to him.

God is, indeed, the one causing both well-being and creating calamity (Isaiah 45:7). But rather than supporting the idea that every evil and calamity was ordained or predestined as part of his perfect will or plan, the Scriptures indicate that many attitudes and actions go against his revealed desire — and that his dealings with humankind are often dependent on their responses to him.

Foreknowledge and Predestination

When I began having conversations with people who believe God predetermined everything as part of his sovereign will, it quickly became apparent that, though the Scriptures use different words with different meanings when referring to foreknowledge and predestination, the distinctions are seemingly nonexistent for Calvinists. Therefore, they’re often used interchangeably.

To illustrate, one gentleman I spoke with pointed to a wall in the room where we were standing and said, “If God says that wall is going to come crashing down, then he will cause it to happen.”

My reply was simple. “The fact that God says something is going to happen doesn’t necessarily mean he caused it as part of his will or plan.”

You and I can be reasonably certain about some things, and we can predict others with a bit of accuracy. We might be reasonably certain about how our family or friends will respond to a particular situation, what might be on the horizon in the economic world, or even that an unstable wall will fall — eventually. But no person can accurately know all things before they take place. True foreknowledge belongs to God alone. He is the only being in the universe who can foreknow everything without predestining it.

The almighty God of the universe has the power to predetermine everything that takes place, but that doesn’t mean he uses it. Nor does it mean everything that takes place is his desire or will. Knowing something and predestining it are different matters entirely. The New Testament uses two different words with two different meanings to describe them: proginosko speaks of God’s foreknowledge, and proorizo speaks of predestination or foreordination. We are not at liberty to interchange the two.

As noted in an earlier chapter, the seventeenth-century Westminster Confession of Faith, sometimes described as a systematic exposition of Calvinistic doctrine, claims “God, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will did freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.” (4) You and I can’t be sure what the writers of the document had in mind when using the word ordain, but it carries the idea of a command or an order. Therefore, people who hold to the Confession conclude that God commanded, or ordered, “Whatsoever comes to pass.” In doing so, however, they seem to forget the Lord saying he didn’t command, nor did it come to his mind, that the sons of Judah burn their sons and daughters in the fire (Jeremiah 7:30–31). And they seem to overlook the fact that the Scriptures don’t say the Lord ordered or commanded Job’s suffering. Instead, they reveal that he permitted Satan to afflict him — all the while keeping his sovereignty firmly intact (Job 1:12).

Paul and Barnabas also referred to God’s permitting powers when telling the crowds in Lystra, “In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:16–17).

The definition of the word translated “permitted” (eao) is accurately reflected in Paul’s words. God allowed or let the nations (ethnos) go their own ways. Paul didn’t say God ordained them to go their own ways or it was his will that they go their own ways, only that he permitted them to.

All Things in Accordance with His Desire

One of the most incredible truths found throughout the Scriptures is not that God foreordained everything as part of his sovereign plan, but that he is intimately and powerfully at work in his creation, permitting people to make choices and sovereignly using those choices in accordance with his will. This beautiful, overarching truth of God’s providence is proclaimed in Ephesians 1:11.

We saw here that John Piper’s Desiring God website uses Ephesians 1:1 to claim the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting was ordained and guided by God. But the passage doesn’t support the claim. Instead, it says God “works all things after the counsel of His will.” In other words, he works everything in accordance with his purpose and desire. Let’s consider the passage more closely, and I’ll show you why I make this statement.

The word translated “works” is energeo, a present participle, active voice verb. This is the word Paul used to tell the Philippians that God was at work in them to will and work for his good pleasure (2:13). And it’s the word he used in Galatians 2:8 to say God worked in Peter’s apostleship to the circumcised and uncircumcised.

The word translated “counsel” is boule, a noun derived from the verb boulomai. Combined, these two words are used almost 50 times in the New Testament, each time referring to a purpose, intention, desire, counsel, or plan. Boule is the word used in Luke 7:30 to speak of the Pharisees and lawyers rejecting God’s purpose for themselves, and it’s the word used in Luke 23:51 to say Joseph of Arimathea had not consented to the plan of the Council who sought to have Jesus crucified.

The word translated “will” is thelema, a noun that speaks of a will, wish, or desire. Jesus used a form of thelema in Matthew 6:10 when he taught the disciples to pray that the Father’s will be done. He used it in Matthew 18:14{XE Matthew:18:14} when saying it’s not the will of the Father that any of the little ones perish. And he used it in the garden of Gethsemane saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). He also used thelo (the verb from which thelema is derived) when he wept over Jerusalem, saying how often he wanted to gather the people like a hen who gathers her chicks, but they were not willing (Luke 13:34, ESV).

And, finally, the word translated “after” is the preposition kata. This is the word Paul used in Philippians 3:14, where he wrote of pressing on “toward the goal for the prize of the upward call” (emphasis mine). And it’s the word Jesus used when, touching the eyes of the two blind men who asked him to have mercy on them, he replied, “It shall be done according to your faith” (Matthew 9:29, emphasis mine).

It seems reasonable to believe that, knowing the definition of each word of Ephesians 1:11, Paul used those words strategically to say exactly what he wanted to say. And what he said surpasses his claim in Romans 8 that God works all things together for good to those who love him, in that it indicates that no matter the circumstances, God is not only working all things together for the good of those who love him, he’s working all things in accordance with, or toward, the desire of his will — every thought, every word, and every action of every person throughout all time — whether they love him or not.

What is God’s will? People have many ideas about it, but he didn’t leave us to merely speculate. Instead, as we’ve seen, Paul told the Thessalonians that God’s will is their sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3) and that they “rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:17–18). Moreover, he told Timothy that God desires (thelo) “all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

I won’t imply that Paul’s words mean every person throughout history will be saved. The Scriptures provide too much evidence to the contrary. What I can say with confidence is, throughout time, people have consistently sought their own will rather than God’s. Nevertheless, he is infinitely big enough to take all the foolishness, rebellion, poor decisions, and outright evil of humankind and creatively work it in accordance with his purposes and desires. No one but a gracious, all-wise, all-powerful, sovereign God can do that for the entire world. The God of the Bible is a big God! Those of us who are parents can’t even do that for the few children we have.

An Illustration of God’s Sovereignty

A beautiful illustration of God working all things in accordance with his desires can be seen in Joseph’s life as recorded in Genesis 37–50. The narrative begins with Joseph’s jealous brothers plotting to put him to death. Then, instead of killing him, they sold him to Midianite traders who took him to Egypt and sold him as a slave. The brothers’ scheme was shockingly evil. Yet, in the midst of such betrayal and heartbreak, God was amazingly compassionate and showed himself able to work through that evil to bring about his good purposes. This is evidenced in the words of Genesis 39:2, “The Lord was with Joseph, so he became a successful man.”

While in Egypt, Joseph was entrusted with great responsibility and proved himself to be a man of integrity. But that didn’t stop him from being falsely accused of impropriety with his master’s wife and thrown into jail. There, too, “The Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him.” However, it was more than two years before Joseph was released and set “over all the land of Egypt” (Genesis 39:21; 41:41).

Up to this point, the story evidences God’s ability to work good out of extremely difficult circumstances, but he did much more than give Joseph a position of authority. The story goes on to reveal that long after Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, they were sent to Egypt by their father to buy grain during a famine. And, after a series of interactions with Joseph in which they didn’t recognize him, he finally revealed his identity to them, saying,

“Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing, nor harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt (Genesis 45:5–8).”

After speaking these comforting words, Joseph insisted his brothers return to their home and bring their families and his father back to Egypt where he would provide for them. They did as he asked. And, on their arrival back in Egypt, Pharaoh gave Joseph’s family the land of Goshen where they were fruitful and became numerous (Genesis 47:27).

Joseph’s family lived there seventeen years before his father died. Then, after keeping their promise to bury their father in Canaan, Joseph’s brothers expressed concern among themselves that Joseph would pay them back for all the wrong they did to him (Genesis 50:15). He certainly could have caused them harm, but instead he graciously told them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (vv.19–20).

Calvinists view Joseph’s words as support for the idea that what happened to him was God’s foreordained will or plan, but the passage doesn’t say anything about a will or plan. Both times the word meant is used it is a form of chashab, which can be translated several ways, but its general definition is to “think” or “account.” In other words, Joseph’s brothers thought evil and acted wickedly, but God thought redemptively and made good out of their evil.

Refuse Speculation

God had the power and authority to ordain every event of Joseph’s life, but the Scriptures don’t indicate he used it. Instead, they reveal that he was (and is) big enough to allow people to make evil decisions and still work them in accordance with his good purposes.

The world today is full of speculation about why things happen as they do, and it seems to have been equally true in ancient times. Jesus’ disciples speculated that a man was born blind due to either his sin or the sin of his parents, but Jesus answered that it was neither (John 9:2–3).

Jesus answered speculation that the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices were greater sinners than other Galileans and that the people on whom the tower in Siloam fell were worse than the people who lived in Jerusalem, saying neither was so (Luke 13:1–4).

And, while Job’s friends speculated that his suffering was due to his sin, God not only graciously gave us a glimpse into the real reason for Job’s suffering — the fact that he was a blameless and upright man and his faith would be tested and proven through his trials — he also gave us a magnificent view of his sovereignty (Job 3–42).

The Westminster Confession is a thoughtful attempt at summarizing the truths of Scripture, but it is not Scripture. The Scriptures reveal that God commands many things, including suffering, but the idea that he ordained everything that comes to pass goes beyond what is written and into speculation. The meaning of the word ordain is very different from the meaning of the words allow and permit. To use them interchangeably is to violate basic interpretation guidelines.

God’s Glory

Calvinists have suggested to me that people who reject the teaching that everything that happens is God’s will are guilty of diminishing his glory, but it seems the opposite is true. Consider the thoughts that go through your mind when you meet people who attempt to control everything and everyone around them in an effort to accomplish their plans. I would venture to say that most of us are unimpressed, even appalled at times. But what goes through your mind when you see people who allow great freedom to those around them, yet remain in charge and still accomplish their plans? Now that’s impressive!

I won’t be so foolish as to say I understand the suffering I see around me. Nor will I make light of it. In addition to the natural disasters that take place around the world each year, I know far too many people who suffer personally in various ways. Life in a fallen world can be full of pain. But the New Testament not only tells us God comforts his afflicted children and will one day put an end to suffering and death, it also says he comforts us, “so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4).

Paul went hungry, was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and threatened for the sake of the gospel. Yet, knowing the affliction he and Timothy were experiencing was producing an eternal weight of glory, rather than focusing on what they could see, they looked at what was unseen; “For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 1:1–24; 4:1–16;17–18).

His words weren’t flippant, fanciful, or wishful thinking. He had seen the risen Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3–8; 12–15) and could confidently proclaim, “If we have hope in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19). The God of the Scriptures is a redeeming God. He is the one who comforts the brokenhearted and brings peace into difficult circumstances. He is the one who has the power to make all things new. And he is the one who promised he would.

I don’t doubt the sincerity of Calvinists and others who claim God ordained everything as part of his sovereign plan, but their confidence that “the counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined” and that nothing is done “without the ordination of God” doesn’t make sense in light of Jesus’ prayer that the Father’s will be done on earth like it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). It doesn’t make sense in light of Jeremiah 7:31where the Lord said he did not command, nor did it come into his mind that the sons of Judah burn their sons and daughters in the fire. And it doesn’t make sense in light of Paul’s claim to Timothy that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

The Scriptures refute the idea that God predestined everything as part of his will and plan, but Calvinists are correct in saying God chose and predestined people. Paul wrote in Ephesians 1 of people being chosen and predestined before the foundation of the world. He wrote in Romans 8:28–30 about people God foreknew and predestined. And Peter wrote about people who were chosen according to foreknowledge. These passages might seem like indisputable evidence for the Calvinistic view of salvation, but several things should be considered before concluding Calvinism is correct. After all, Paul was chosen by virtue of his heritage and uniquely chosen by God to proclaim his name before “the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel” (Acts 9:15). Yet, he wrote in a personal letter to Timothy, “If we deny Him, He also will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12).

Who was chosen and predestined before the foundation of the world, and what was it that they were predestined to do? We’ll begin considering these questions in the next chapter.

The post is adapted from chapter 4 of the book The Flower Falls: A Careful Examination of Calvinism’s TULIP. If you prefer to read the material in print or eBook, you can find it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com, or ask your favorite bookseller to order it.

Notes

[1] John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book Third, Chapter 16: “The World, Created by God, Still Cherished and Protected by Him. Each and All of Its Parts Governed by His Providence,” 1536, translated by Henry Beveridge, 1845, 179–180, https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iii.xvii.html

(2) Webster’s New College Dictionary, 4th ed, s.v. “sovereign.”

(3) John Piper, “Are There Two Wills in God? Divine Election and God’s Desire for All to be Saved,” Desiring God, January 1, 1995 https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/are-there-two-wills-in-god

(4) The Westminster Assembly, The 1647 Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 3, section 1) ed. C. McMahon and Therese B. McMahon (Crossville, TN: Puritan Publications, 2014).

You can connect with me on Twitter with questions and comments, or email me at patti@theflowerfallsoff.com

To read about other passages used to support Calvinism, return to the homepage or follow one of the links below.

Preface

Reformation Truth and Error

The Illusory Truth of Calvinism

Context and the Simple Truths of Scripture

The Sovereignty and Will of God

Chosen and Predestined Ephesians 1

Pronouns and the Sense

Redemption, Adoption, and the Seal of the Spirit- Ephesians

Romans 8- Foreknown and Predestined

Romans 8:33- A Charge Against God’s Elect