The Sovereignty of God and Human Responsibility

Him [Jesus], being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain (Acts 2:23).

A Meshing of Realities

The above excerpt is part of Peter's powerful sermon delivered at the Feast of Pentecost, when he and all of the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and boldly proclaimed the truth.

Peter had just finished quoting from the prophet Joel in verses 17-21, and then told those in Jerusalem that while God preordained the death of Jesus, they were nonetheless guilty for putting Him to death. In this verse and throughout the Bible, we see the truth of God's sovereignty meshed with human responsibility.

A Wrong Perspective

Whenever this topic is raised, most people automatically think this is a battle between Calvinism and Armenianism. However, this is not the case. Calvinists focus on God's sovereignty, though many wrongly say they deny human responsibility. Hyper-Calvinists overly focus on God's sovereignty at the expense of human responsibility, but not those who follow the teachings of John Calvin.

Armenians, on the other hand, hold that man has a free will which, by the way, is a phrase not found in Scripture in regards to a sinful human being. I won't get into every difference because this is not the topic of our discussion, but it does need to be mentioned. The issue is: what does the Bible say?

God's Sovereignty

The Bible teaches God's sovereignty in all things: creation, life, weather, evil, pain, loss, death, and salvation among many more. If God is not sovereign – that is, having total control and authority over all that happens – He is not God. It's as simple as that.

This does not mean God created evil, nor is He the author of evil (James 1:13). When evil things occur, we often say God is unfair or that He's limiting our freedom. The truth is, however, that if God didn't limit us, we would destroy ourselves in a very short time.

God is more than fair in the way He governs His world and those He has created. If we misunderstand or do not have a proper view of the sovereignty of God, we will have no hope. How could we have hope if we do not know God is in control of all things in our life? When we lose a job, a child, or things just don't work out, our view of God's character and sovereign control determines our response.

God's Providence

God is also providential, meaning He uses all things in this world to bring about His preordained plan. We see that in what Peter said. Evil people killed Jesus, yet God ordained from eternity past that Jesus would die for sinners (Acts 2:23; 1 Peter 1:20). God used the decisions of humanity and the situations in the political and religious realm to bring His plan to pass. This tells us that men and women are responsible for all they think, say, and do.

Human Responsibility

The Bible teaches human responsibility. God speaks of this more times than anyone else in the Bible does. Read through the Old Testament and you will find that God is constantly rebuking, chastising, and calling Israel back to Himself because she was constantly sinning against Him and breaking His Law.

Jesus spoke of the sinfulness of the human heart and refusal to believe (John 3:18-21). Paul spoke of humanity rejecting the truth of God and worshiping creation rather than the Creator. Because of this, we are responsible for the sinfulness in our hearts (Romans 1:18-2:16).

Both truths – God's sovereignty and human responsibility – are taught in the Bible, and when we focus on one more than the other, error will occur. Human responsibility must always be looked at under the umbrella of God's sovereignty, and whether or not we fully understand or accept it, God makes no mistake about the truth that He is sovereign and we are responsible.

Michael Weis is a pastor, video operator, editor, and social media manager at Zion's Hope.