Introduction
Does God’s sovereignty silence the sinner’s invitation?
When the doctrines of election and human deadness are preached without gospel warmth, they can lead to fear instead of faith. In this episode, our pastors lovingly correct the distortion that makes people hesitate to come to Christ. You’ll hear how God’s sovereign grace and real gospel invitation go hand-in-hand.
Got a question on Christianity, Gospel, Scripture, Theology? Submit your own questions here.
Transcript
SUMMARY KEYWORDS:
Calvin’s teachings, free will, God’s sovereignty, human responsibility, Reformed theology, concurrence, divine agency, creaturely agency, liberty, agency misperception, divine decree, human choices, divine love, election, predestination
SPEAKERS:
Pastor Cam Porter, Pastor Jim Butler, Dr. Samuel Renihan
Opening Question: Was Calvin a Fatalist?
Pastor Cam Porter:
Was Calvin a fatalist? Was John Calvin a fatalist? Some accuse his teachings of removing free will or making God a cold, impersonal force. How should we rightly understand Calvin’s view of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility?
Reframing the Issue Beyond Calvin
Dr. Samuel Renihan:
This is a question that requires considerable technical language and distinctions, so I don’t see any way to answer it without getting into the weeds very quickly.
The first thing I would say is to detach the question from Calvin. This doesn’t need to be about Calvin at all, but rather the common teaching of Reformed theology, Protestant theology. Not that there was uniformity on the details. But this really isn’t a Calvin issue. And our confessions would represent the views that I intend to defend. Maybe not to the same degree of detail, but these views are not peculiar to Calvin. They precede him and follow him. And it’s just associated with his name for various reasons.
So this is no longer about Calvin or Calvinism. Okay?
The Real Question: Sovereignty and Responsibility
The question is really: does God’s decree remove the liberty of man? Or does God’s decree make Him the author of sin?
Does God’s sovereignty take away human responsibility?
We need to see that the question presupposes various things that are problematic.
Misunderstandings of Liberty and Agency
The first is the nature of liberty. What does it mean for something to be free?
People seem to assume that in order for an action to be free, God has to be out of the picture. I need to be able to do something independent of God, otherwise it’s not free. In fact, I need to be able to act contrary to God, or else it’s not free.
But that’s not the case. If that were the case, that we were agents that could act independently of God and even contrary to Him, we would be mini-gods. We would actually be on His level, just fighting with Him, and He’s just bigger than us.
The question is presupposing that creatures and God are on the same level of agency, and that we can’t be free unless God is out of the picture and we can act independently and even contrary to Him.
God gives us a liberty to act, but it’s the liberty of creatures, while He is God.
Concurrence: Divine and Creaturely Agency
What we need to affirm is what’s called concurrence. The Latin word is concursus. It’s a very useful one.
Think of things that run side by side. They’re concurrent. Or better, above and below.
God is the first cause of all things, acting according to divine agency in all that He can do as God.
Creatures act according to creaturely agency and liberty according to who they are as creatures.
These things are concurrent. In all things, God as the first cause is working out His will and good pleasure. And yet creatures, as second causes, are freely acting according to their agency and liberty that God has given them. They do what they want as much as they can, all the while God is at work accomplishing His purposes.
Biblical Example: Joseph and Divine Intent
Paul says in Romans 8:28 that God works all things together.
Joseph says to his brothers, what you meant for evil, God meant for good. You chose what you wanted to do with me. You threw me in the pit. You sold me into slavery. You lied to my father. You tore up my robe and put blood on it.
You meant it for evil. God, in His divine agency, brought about the salvation of thousands or millions as Joseph came to power and provided during the famine. God meant it for good.
Freedom Within Creaturely Limits
The Scriptures show us divine agency that doesn’t make humans into puppets but operates through our free actions and choices.
But I’m not going to say I’m not free unless I can do anything and everything.
If I walk outside, pump my fist in the air, and say “Up, up, and away,” I can’t fly. Am I not free? No. I’m just limited by the nature God has made me. That’s not what I am or can do.
But I can walk around. I could walk away from this table right now if it were my will to do so.
My limitations based on my nature do not deprive me of liberty. It’s just a created liberty. A liberty given to me as a creature according to what I am.
God’s Decree and the Certainty of Free Choices
God is God. He can do what we can’t, with divine liberty and divine agency, working in and through all things.
He’s not the author or actor of sin. We come up with the sinful ideas. We do the sinful things.
Yet God is sovereignly working through all of it to bring about what He has foreordained.
God’s decree makes all things certain. But that certainty includes the free choices of men and angels.
Responding to Pastoral Frustration
What we need to do is first remove Calvin from the discussion.
Then we need to stop putting creatures and God on the same level in our view of liberty and agency.
Then we say: what can God as first cause do? What do creatures as second causes do? They run together, side by side, above and below.
One thing I think we do poorly as Reformed Baptists is when we say, “God is sovereign. Man is responsible. We’ll never understand it.”
That is a very unsatisfactory answer. It leads to these kinds of questions and frustrations.
Yes, at some point we do hit a wall. We won’t ever fully comprehend divine agency. But that doesn’t mean we can’t explain it clearly.
The Value of Clear Doctrine: Concurrence
The doctrine of concurrence gives us a clear, strong, scriptural vocabulary beyond just saying “God is sovereign and man is responsible.”
We do know what it’s like to have creaturely freedom and creaturely agency. And we know what the Bible teaches about God as the first cause.
We must be careful not to give such an unsatisfactory answer, especially when someone is genuinely trying to understand.
New Testament Examples of Concurrence
Pastor Cam Porter:
Yeah. Excellent. Jim, I know you’ve preached on this. You often bring up New Testament examples. Acts 2…
Pastor Jim Butler:
Acts 4. All His hands, according to God’s predetermined plan. The apostles’ prayer in Acts 4. God purposed these things, but it’s the responsibility of the men who did them.
That’s a category for free will. Probably one of the most misunderstood things.
I see it online. But we as Reformed people believe in free will. It’s just, where is that will located in the story of redemption?
Clarifying the Reformed View of Free Will
Our confession talks about man in a state of innocence, fall, grace, and glory. The will functions differently in each.
And practically, when you read Calvin, he doesn’t sound like a fatalist. He sounds like a man who feared and loved God. His writings reflect that.
Some of his writings are very edifying. He speaks reverently of the greatness and goodness of God to His creatures.
The God of heaven and earth does what pleases Him. That doesn’t erase man’s agency on earth. It doesn’t fit that all-or-nothing pie analogy. Concurrence is real.
Divine Love in the Doctrine of Election
Pastor Cam Porter:
Yes. And going back to what you said earlier about God’s love in election and predestination. Scripture doesn’t present a divine coldness.
It often frames election in the context of love toward His church.
Pastor Jim Butler:
Ephesians 1:4 and 5.
Want more theological Q&A?
Explore the full Ask FGBC archive: https://www.freegrace.ca/ask
Got a question on Christianity, Gospel, Scripture, Theology? Submit your own questions here.
