Getting Job-ed
Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13 CSB
Alrighty, now we start getting into some meat here. I have to walk a fine line here Biblically and I want to stay true to Scripture and not get into ‘isms’ more than the Bible. When discussing the Sovereignty and Providence of God, this inevitably pulls up questions about the doctrine of election, freedom of the will, mankind’s responsibility, etc. As promised in earlier articles, we’re going to dive into the topic. Now, I think the only way to do this is to pull in some decent-sized passages of Scripture, so be patient, but really chew on what these passages are saying. Also, this issue has been debated throughout church history, if we think we’re going to settle this issue in a short crash course article, think again. This will get the conversation started and the wheels turning in our minds.
The Wills of God
Once again, we’re not going to be able to cover the depth that we could on this topic in a short article, but let’s talk about what we can with it. We have to make a distinction that there are two (at least to what our minds can comprehend) Wills of God. If you’re thinking, “ew I don’t want to get into all this theological jargon…” I encourage you to hang tight because this stuff really matters in your worship of God.
- Sovereign (Macro) Will of God: there are many names for this in theology: Sovereign, decretive, Macro (Big picture- my term). This is God’s overarching will and purpose that can not be thwarted and this also existed before time began. This Will of God will see to it that God’s glory will be seen and acknowledged by all creatures (resulting in the worship of God or being destroyed in the wrath of God), thus, resulting in the praise, honor, and glory of God. There are way too many texts to put here to support God’s Sovereign Will (Click on each verse and you will be taken to Bible Gateway to that section- Romans 9; Matthew 10:29-30; Job 32-42; Isaiah 46:9-10, 48:9-11; Revelation 13:8; Proverbs 16:4, 9, 33; just to name a few) but I want to show one of the best all-encompassing sections. Let’s look at Ephesians 1:4-12 CSB/Greek Interlinear (really chew on the implications of these):
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the Beloved One.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.
In him we have also received an inheritance, because we were predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the counsel of his will, so that we who had already put our hope in Christ will bring praise to his glory.
Here is another all-encompassing passage from Isaiah 46:9-11 CSB,
Remember what happened long ago,
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and no one is like me.
I declare the end from the beginning,
and from long ago what is not yet done,
saying: my plan will take place,
and I will do all my will.
We are finite human beings. We can not begin to fathom the amazing wisdom it takes to see to it that this plan plays out according to His Will (Romans 11:33-36). It’s not our job to know all the details of how this Will is conducted, that job only belongs to God. To understand all of the details of this, what is not revealed to us in Scripture, would be us trying to be God. We are to trust in God that His plan will come to pass, all for the good of those that love Him (Romans 8:28). So, with that said, especially let’s say in the conversation of election and who the elect are, do I have the right to say, “this person’s elect and this person isn’t?” ABSOLUTELY NOT. No, in fact, God calls us to the job of bringing His Good News to all people. Election, God’s choosing of people, is His job, not ours (John 6:44). Deuteronomy 29:29 CSB, “The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.” God has revealed His overarching goal (see the Ephesians section above), but the details of how He will see to it are hidden to us.
2. Moral (Micro) Will of God. Just like the Sovereign Will, the Moral Will, Micro (little picture- my term) has many names also: preceptive, permissive, etc. This Will involves a command or plan (for lack of a better word) by God but is one that can be broken- but that is ultimately still within the Sovereign Will of God. We see this Will broken every day of our lives from sin from people (See Romans 1:18-32). Does that sound contradictory to what we just talked about (Sovereign Will)? It shouldn’t, we need to open our scope and view of who God is and what Scripture says about Him. God commands ‘Do not murder’ (Exodus 20:13) and yet ordains the death of Jesus (Acts 2:23, 4:27-28). The Moral Will still falls within the Sovereign Will, even when the Moral Will is broken. Let’s look at a couple of other examples:
“For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. “So repent and live!” Ezekiel 18:32 CSB
And
Just as the Lord was glad to cause you to prosper and to multiply you, so he will also be glad to cause you to perish and to destroy you. You will be ripped out of the land you are entering to possess. Deuteronomy 28:63 CSB
So Which is true? Both are inspired by God to be written. They’re both true. Paul says God has “multi-faceted wisdom… (Ephesians 3:10 CSB)”- what’s that mean? God is of infinite love, wisdom, justice, knowledge, power, and worth and He has multiple layers of His being that we can not begin to comprehend. In one sense, God does not ‘take pleasure in anyone’s death’ and in another sense, in regards to His justice, he will also be glad to cause the wicked to perish and to destroy them. When my daughter does something bad that we’ve repeatedly told her not to (literally jumping on the couch like a WWE wrestler) and we have to discipline her, what are my emotions? I hate that she’s doing something that could hurt her. It breaks my heart when I discipline her when she cries. I want her to be safe and I care for her by doing it. I’m happy that I was being a good dad and disciplining her. I love consoling her when she needs to be loved because she’s upset… Look at the complexity of emotion and I’m a human being- think about the infinite, multi-faceted God we are talking about.
We break God’s Moral Will all the time, but even all of that is within His Sovereign Will. Refer to the story of Joseph (Genesis 37-50). Horrible sins were done to Joseph, but in Genesis 50:20 CSB Joseph makes an amazing claim to his family that sinned against him, “You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.” This is when the Macro (Sovereign) Will and the Micro (Moral) Will meet: Joseph’s family and also God had a plan, who’s played out? God’s. There are so many other verses to discuss, but for the sake of length, I’ll save them for another time.
So what’s our responsibility?
So what’s our responsibility? Does what we do actually matter? Absolutely it does. We are not aware of all of God’s Sovereign Will. We are commanded under His Moral Will to love, act, refrain from sin, and serve in certain ways and when we don’t WE are the ones held accountable, not God (Read basically all of Romans, amazing). Our job is to follow Jesus’ command, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near (Matthew 4:17 CSB).” Turn to God. Turn away from sin, turn away from the world and all the things it has to offer. We are commanded to do that constantly in the Bible. And when we do that, and in view of what we learned (and also what we don’t know!) about the complexities of the Sovereign Will and Moral Will, we know that this was the meaning of our opening verse,
Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13 CSB
-Austin
Additional Resources
Piper, John. “Does God Delight in Destroying Sinners?” Does God Delight in Destroying Sinners? . Desiring God, October 23, 2015. https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-god-delight-in-destroying-sinners.
