Sovereignty of God and Free Will of Humanity Paradox

Here are ten faith assumptions that have helped me personally grapple with the sovereignty of God and free will of humanity paradox. I have gathered these from several sources and make no claim that they solve every issue. Occasionally, I change the wording as my thinking evolves, but the basic core stays very close to the same. These observations are too simplistic for the academic theologian; and in some places, there may even be some inconsistencies. However, these assumptions do give me a working understanding.

1. God is totally sovereign and humanity has a limited free will. I find most of the controversy among Christians regarding this has to do with the degree of free will humanity has.

2. God, in His sovereignty, chose to create humans in His image giving them the capacity to make moral and spiritual choices. While humans do make moral and spiritual choices, our free will is not sovereign. We are limited by both our sinful nature and our finite understanding.

3. God, in His sovereignty, chose to establish orderly systems for humanity which includes natural, psychological, and sociological systems. These systems have God-established boundaries. As a result, science or psychology will never be allowed to take the place of God. Some may chose to try to use these systems to deny God’s sovereignty, but they will always fail.

4. God, in His Sovereignty, may chose to interrupt, accelerate, and even go around these systems (Virgin Birth, instantaneous healing miracles, the choosing of nations in the Old Testament to bring judgment on His people). Humans, because of limited knowledge, often do not see God or comprehend God’s action. Also, because of our limited knowledge, we may occasionally assume that God has interrupted the system when in reality God is working through dimensions of these systems we do not understand. For example, during the plagues of the Middle Ages in Europe, some people believed that the people who died of the plague were being punished for their sins. As a result, some said they needed to burn the bodies of the deceased to show God’s judgment. When the plagues stopped spreading, people said God had intervened. In reality by destroying the bodies through fires, they had limited the exposure to the contagious diseased tissue.

5. God, in His sovereignty, chose to reveal Himself in the history of humanity. The history of humanity is primarily the narrative that results from the choices by our limited free will. While God does give us the capacity to choose, God is fully aware of the choices we will make and the results of the choices. God apparently chooses at times to interrupt human history.

6. God, in His sovereignty, may chose to limit Himself such as when God became flesh in Jesus. Jesus was not omnipresent as a person in that He was only one place at a time.

7. God, in His sovereignty, does hold humanity accountability for spiritual and moral choices. This truth is the essence of the all the commandments. This is also why there are spiritual and moral absolutes.

8. Our moral and spiritual choices do have consequences of which we may or may not be aware. We make the right spiritual and moral choices not because of the consequences but as acts of obedience and worship of God.

9. The emphasis on the doctrine of election is primarily on the responsibility of service rather than the privilege of salvation. This has not only helped me understand Romans, but also helps me interpret significant portions of the Old Testament. Salvation and service are not steps one and two of a process but inevitably intertwined. We like to celebrate our salvation and ignore the call to serve, but they cannot be separated.

10. All human theological systems, including mine, are created to explain mystery. Arminianism, Calvinism, and Fentonism are the attempts of humanity limited by sinful nature and by finite knowledge to explain the mystery of a Holy Sovereign God. Therefore, all systems are partially flawed or incomplete. Systematic theology seeks to eliminate contradiction and in doing so may also eliminate paradoxical truth. Yet, God has chosen to use the fallen and limited human mind as a way of revealing truth. Jesus is the ultimate truth. This truth we can only see darkly or partially now but later when the result of the fall is fully removed, we shall know in full.