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The Most Common Objections to the Doctrine of God’s Decree By Jay Wegter 1.) Foreordination is inconsistent with
man’s free agency. An
act does not have to be uncertain to be free.
A free act may be certain (i.e. established as certain within God’s decree). An act that is foreknown is as certain as
one that is foreordained. If it were
possible to have an act foreknown but not foreordained, it would not preserve
any more of man’s free agency. An act
is foreknown by God because He has foreordained it, it is not foreordained
because he foreknew it. (See Luke
22:22; Matt. 26:24; Jn. 6:70, 71; 13:2, 27.) 2.) The Foreordination of the Fall (or
Decree to Permit Sin) is Inconsistent with God’s Holiness. Even
if He has not fully disclosed it to us, God has a righteous and holy purpose
for allowing His rational creatures the free agency to fall from a state of
unconfirmed holiness. He is not the
author of sin; the judge who pronounces the sentence is not responsible for the
sinful response after the verdict is pronounced. The parent who puts the child to bed is not responsible for the
tantrum that ensues. God
predestined the crucifixion of His only begotten Son, but God was in no way
responsible for the wicked acts of the men who caused Christ’s sufferings (see
Acts 2 and 4). Foreordination
establishes the certainty of a fact, but does not make God the author or
“compeller” of the decreed behavior. 3.) Foreordination Destroys all
Motivation for Exertion. Opponents
of the doctrine of foreordination have drawn a caricature of the truth by
suggesting the following: “If all is foreordained, then let’s sit back and
relax. We don’t need to do anything, it
will all come to pass.” The
above false assumption supposes that God has determined the end without respect
to the means (or without respect to the means of accomplishing the end). It is a fact
that the end is always reached by the use of means (whether the end is
righteous or wicked, it is reached by the use of means). God
has purposed the things that shall come to pass in history through the acts of
individuals. From God’s standpoint,
everything is certain and secure. From
our standpoint, it is possible to wander from God’s will into
disobedience. As believers it is
possible to turn against God’s will and experience His discipline as a
result. Through rebellion and unbelief,
we may stray from God’s best for us. The
fact that something is sure to come to pass (because it is foreordained and
promised by God) may act as a motive to pursue it rather than a reason to
neglect it (see Heb. 6:11, 12; 2 Peter 1:1-11; Acts 27). The
stronger the hope of success, the greater the motive there is to exert
oneself. Where the hope of success is
the least, the motive to exert oneself is the weakest. (The greatest missionary evangelists have
believed in God’s sovereign grace. They
spent their lives exerting themselves for what they were sure God would bring
to pass.) 4.) Foreordination is Fate or Fatalism,
it Makes Men “Robots.” Scoffers
reason as follows, “If everything is going to come to pass as God has planned
it, then we are locked into a certain, inescapable fate.” Is
it accurate to say that there is no difference between fatalism and
foreordination as far as the certainty of events is concerned? Oddly enough yes – both preach the certainty
of events. BUT, fatalism comprehends no
goal. Fatalism says such in such was
going to happen, “no matter what.” The
operation of the “laws” of fate have no soul.
They only encompass the unintelligent linking of events. Fatalism has no personal plan behind it that
is designed to manifest God’s attributes and perfections through man’s
salvation. By
contrast, foreordination involves an all-wise, all loving Father who is
responsible for events in their sequence and for their accomplishments. The unfolding of
providence will prove to be the perfect exhibition of the divine
perfections. God’s infinite wisdom will
on the last day be evident in His design for mankind and creation. Fatalism leads to despair and an amoral, cynical
perspective. Foreordination
leads to filial confidence in the Father who is truly eternal and true to His
gracious covenant. Foreordination leads
to humility in the presence of God who works all things according to the
counsel of His will. (God’s sovereignty
is also a warning to the impenitent that comprehensive judgment and punishment
is sure to come to those who do not receive God’s salvation.) 5.) Divine
Foreordination Makes our Actions Less Important. Just
the opposite is true. This brief life
involves the daily principle of sowing and reaping. Foreordination makes our actions exceedingly important. In essence God really confirms our choices. The real efficiency of second causes (means)
is in the hand of God. He alone
establishes the work of our hands. He
alone confirms or nullifies the plans of men.
Our absolute
dependence and moral accountability ought to make us cling to God. Bible believing Christians know that God is
ever-present, almighty and that He powerfully controls events so as to
accomplish His purposes in the elect.
(His love, protection and wisdom are with them.) 6.) How can
we Trust in a God who has Foreordained the Damnation of the Majority of
Mankind? Wouldn’t that fact Engender an
Insurmountable Suspicion toward Him? God’s
character can only be understood by those who have tasted redemption. The redeemed know their ill-desert. They understand their depravity and former
enmity toward God. They know that their
sins made them deserving of condemnation. But,
they have seen the glory of God in the face of Christ. It is futility to attempt to understand
God’s foreordination unless one is a born again Christian. Apart from regeneration, the creature will
always allow his enmity to condition his reasoning processes. He will always side with the interests of
the rebellious creature against the interests of God’s glory. Illustration:
We could compare the
high doctrine of foreordination to a high mountain with a fence and gate around
it. No one is permitted to explore the
mountain so as to gain understanding UNTIL he deals with Jesus Christ who is
the Keeper of the gate. Christ only
lets believers through the gate. Foreordination
never kept anyone out of heaven. In
fact, without foreordination, no one would savingly believe upon Christ so as
to be made an heir of eternal life. 7.) The
Doctrine of Foreordination brings us no Comfort when we see Wholesale
Wickedness, Suffering and Injustice in the World. When
we see evil abounding, tragedies, injustices, victimization, it may prompt us
to think disturbing thoughts about God.
For we reason that our God who knows all and foreordains all, “could
have prevented these horrible things!”
“Where is His goodness now?” “If
He doesn’t approve of this, why did He let it happen, much less foreordain it?” God
has righteous purposes for granting men a brief season to exercise their free
agency and to express their wickedness.
Very soon, God will again invade human history. Then He will restrain evil and publicly
judge those who practice it. Every
person will prove to be an eternal object lesson to the watching universe
(either a vessel of mercy or of wrath, Rom. 9). Our
problem with God’s sovereign permission of evil rises out of our objection that
says in effect, “God ought to live in time as we do, instead of in
eternity.” “He ought to make the
goodness of His character evident to us in everything He decrees.” Our
problem is that we are insisting that God demonstrate His righteousness,
holiness, justice and goodness in every human event. We want Him to make it so plain to us that we can see it and
approve of it. We want the events He
decrees to be compatible with our sense and reason. Like Habakkuk, we hate to wait.
We lack the faith to wait until He brings His perfect consummation to
history. There are countless acts in history where God has overruled evil for
good (i.e., story of Joseph). 8.) If God
Foreordained the Acts of Wicked Men, then how did the Men have a Choice in the
Matter? Foreordination
renders certain an act to be performed by person. Foreordination does not compel the person to
perform the act. Men are at liberty to
do what they desire. God does not
coerce them. Man is a responsible free
agent who originates his own sinful acts. Sin is
transgression of God’s law and is disobedience to the Lawgiver Himself. God does not influence men to sin against
Him. Men
who freely choose to not retain God in their thoughts will carry out their
depraved desires and (apart from God’s grace) will continue toward destruction. God’s providence directs all of His
creatures. He puts limits upon all
men. He limits the activities of the
wicked to operate within certain boundaries.
God’s
providence does not violate the laws of men’s natures. When God chooses to withhold His restraining
grace, He Himself does not make the sinner more sinful. The sinner out of his own volition and
desire moves further toward a depraved mind God’s providence may bring or
permit circumstances which accelerate the sinner’s blindness and self-hardening
(i.e., Pharaoh, Rom. 9). Illustration: The same sunshine that softens wax,
hardens clay – the reason lies in the difference of their natures. Regeneration is the only example of
God “violating” the law of a man’s nature.
When He brings about the new birth, He sovereignly implants a whole new
principle from which springs new behaviors. CONCLUSION The
doctrine of foreordination is a comfort to the believer. The doctrine reassures him that every aspect
of his life is under God’s care and wisdom.
Thus, this truth argues for a greater degree of entrusting oneself to
God. When rightly understood, it
stimulates in us prayerfulness, dependence, thanksgiving, and waiting upon
God. It is a doctrine that humbles
us. It makes us cry for more grace to
incline our hearts after God’s will. Foreordination
reminds us that all we are in ourselves is sin. Whatever is done by the “new man” constitutes an activity that
belongs to the power of the new nature – the nature energized by the grace of
God’s Spirit. This doctrine should move
a believer to consolation, humility and diligence. There
is not a chance that a natural man will begin to do good or begin to do
that which is pleasing to God. We are
absolutely dependent upon the Creator.
The unbeliever is as well, but does not acknowledge that truth. |
