Reformed Theology and the Doctrines of Grace — Unit 1: The Sovereignty of God

Key Verse

"In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will." (Ephesians 1:11, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain why the Reformed tradition begins its theology with the character and rule of God.

2. Define God's decree and God's providence, and name the three parts of providence: preservation, concurrence and government.

3. Show from Scripture that God rules nature, nations, human choices and even the cross.

4. Explain how the Reformed confessions teach that God is not the author of sin and that human beings are still responsible.

5. State four objections to divine sovereignty fairly (fatalism, God as author of evil, loss of human freedom, and open theism) and answer each from the Reformed side.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition, for students who belong to it. It is conservative and confessional. When it says "we" or "our tradition," it means the churches that hold the Bible to be the inspired and inerrant Word of God and that confess the faith set out in the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort and the Westminster Standards. For the history of how these documents arose, see Course 1 of this specialization, especially the unit on the Synod of Dort. This course does not repeat that history. It asks what the churches believe and why.

Other Christians, including many who love the Lord as much as we do, read these matters differently. We state their objections fairly and then answer them from Scripture. "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). We hold our convictions firmly and with humility.

Why We Begin With God

Many people think Reformed theology is mainly a set of five points about salvation. The five points matter, and Units 3 to 8 of this course treat them. But the tradition starts with who God is. The Heidelberg Catechism opens with the believer's only comfort in life and in death, and that comfort rests on a faithful Savior and a Father who rules all things. The Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Salvation is God's work from beginning to end, so that God gets the glory.

When we say God is sovereign, we mean that He is the Lord of all. Nothing outside Himself limits Him. He made all things, He keeps all things in being, and nothing happens outside His wise and holy will. He is not a cold power. The same Scripture that says "He does whatever He pleases" also says that God is love, good, patient and just. Sovereignty is the rule of a holy and loving Father.

What Scripture Says About God's Rule

The Reformed doctrine is not drawn from one or two hard verses. It is the steady teaching of the whole Bible. Consider four areas.

Creation and nature. "But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 115:3). The Lord rules wind, rain, seed and harvest. Jesus taught that not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father (Matthew 10:29), and that the very hairs of our heads are numbered.

Nations and kings. Nebuchadnezzar learned this in his pride. After his humbling he confessed of God: "He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, 'What have You done?'" (Daniel 4:35). Proverbs 21:1 says: "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes." Rulers who think they act alone are carrying out purposes they do not see.

The future. The Lord declares that His counsel will stand and that He announces the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10). Prophecy is possible because God is not guessing about tomorrow.

Our own lives and salvation. Paul writes that we were "predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will" (Ephesians 1:11). Notice the words "all things." Paul does not say "some things" or "most things." The believer's inheritance is secure because the God who has promised it governs everything.

The Decree and Providence

The Reformed confessions give names to what Scripture teaches. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 7, calls the decrees of God His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, by which He has foreordained whatever comes to pass for His own glory. The Westminster Confession, chapter 3, adds two safeguards in the same breath. God is not the author of sin, and no violence is done to the will of His creatures. Instead, the confession says, the freedom and the working of secondary causes are established, not removed. We will return to this.

The decree is God's eternal plan. Providence is that plan carried out in time. The Shorter Catechism, question 11, calls it God's most holy, wise and powerful preserving and governing of all His creatures and all their actions. Reformed teachers usually divide providence into three parts.

Preservation. God keeps every creature in being. If He withdrew His hand for a moment, nothing would continue to exist. Paul told the Athenians that "in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

Concurrence. God works in and through the actions of His creatures. A farmer plants, rain falls, the sun shines, and the crop grows, and God is at work in each of these. The creature really acts, and God is really acting through the creature's act.

Government. God directs all things toward the ends He has chosen. Nothing escapes His purpose, and He turns even harmful acts to good ends.

The Heidelberg Catechism, questions 27 and 28, teaches that providence is God's almighty and ever-present power by which He upholds heaven and earth and governs all things, so that leaf and blade, rain and drought, health and sickness, riches and poverty, all come to us not by chance but from His fatherly hand. The Belgic Confession, article 13, says the same and adds that this teaching gives believers great comfort. Nothing can happen to them except by the will of their Father.

God's Rule and the Cross

The clearest test of this doctrine is the cross. On the day of Pentecost, Peter said to Jerusalem that Jesus was "delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God," and that "you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death" (Acts 2:23). Both things are true in one sentence. The cross was planned by God. The men who crucified Jesus did it freely and are guilty. Peter does not feel any conflict between these truths, and he does not weaken either of them.

Joseph says the same to his brothers: "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring about as it is this day, to save many people alive" (Genesis 50:20). The brothers meant evil, and God meant good, in the same event.

Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

Our tradition does not teach that God rules instead of human beings acting. It teaches that He rules in such a way that human beings really act and really answer for their acts. The older teachers called people "secondary causes." God is the first cause of all, but He uses means: farmers, rulers, preachers, parents. The Westminster Confession, chapter 5, teaches that God ordinarily works by means, though He is free to work without them or against them.

Philosophers call the view that real freedom and God's ordaining can be held together compatibilism. We depend not on the word but on what the Bible does: it commands, warns and invites people as responsible agents, and it also says that God works all things according to His counsel. Unit 10 studies how this works in prayer, evangelism and assurance. Here we say only that the Lord has not explained everything to us. "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever" (Deuteronomy 29:29). We believe what He has revealed and rest in what He has kept to Himself.

God and Evil

This is the hardest question in the doctrine. If God ordains whatever comes to pass, is He the author of evil? The Reformed answer is no, and it rests on Scripture. "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone" (James 1:13). God is holy, and sin is contrary to His nature and His law.

The confessions use careful language. The Westminster Confession, chapter 3, says that God is not the author of sin. Chapter 5 says that God's providence reaches to the first fall and all other sins of angels and men, but in such a way that the sinfulness comes from the creature and not from God. The Belgic Confession, article 13, says that God so orders and governs things that He is neither the author of nor guilty of the sins that are committed. The older teachers often spoke of God "permitting" sin. They meant a wise and holy permitting that is included in His plan and limited by His power, not a mere standing aside.

No human explanation removes every difficulty. We hold two things that Scripture holds: God is perfectly good, and nothing falls outside His plan. We cannot see how every part fits together. We are asked to trust Him.

A Historians' Question: Was Predestination the "Central Dogma"?

Some older historians of theology argued that the Reformed tradition was built on a single "central dogma," usually predestination, and that Calvin's followers, especially Theodore Beza, deduced everything else logically from it. This view gave Calvinism a reputation for cold logic.

Most historians today, including Richard Muller, have challenged it. They point out that Calvin's Institutes deals with predestination late in the work, as part of the doctrine of salvation, and that the confessions are organized around Scripture, the covenant, Christ and the church rather than one master idea. We agree with this correction. Predestination is a precious doctrine, but the tradition begins with God's glory and with Scripture.

Objections and Answers

Objection 1: This is fatalism. Critics say that if God ordains all things, nothing we do matters; it is the same as the pagan idea of blind fate.

Our answer. Fate is impersonal and has no mind or love. God is a Father who knows His children and acts for them. God ordains the means as well as the ends. Paul told the sailors that none would be lost, yet he also said that they could not be saved unless the crew stayed on the ship (Acts 27:22, 31). Our prayers, work and preaching are the means by which God carries out His purposes. Fatalism leads to despair; the Bible's teaching leads to prayer and courage.

Objection 2: This makes God the author of sin. The objection is old. It was made against Augustine and Calvin, and it is often made today.

Our answer. We hold what the confessions say: sin arises in the will of the creature, and God is neither its author nor guilty of it. We rely on James 1:13 and on the way Scripture treats the cross, where wicked men acted wickedly and God acted righteously through their acts. We admit this is a mystery, but an alternative that removes God's rule over evil also removes our comfort. If evil sometimes escapes God's control, we have no assurance that He can make it serve our good, as Romans 8:28 promises.

Objection 3: This destroys human freedom and responsibility. Arminian teachers, following Jacobus Arminius and the Remonstrants, hold that real responsibility needs the ability to choose otherwise, and that God's sovereignty is exercised in a way that leaves such freedom intact. We state their concern with respect. They wish to protect God's justice and our accountability.

Our answer. Scripture holds people accountable even when it says God's purpose is certain, as in Acts 2:23 and Genesis 50:20. Our tradition does not deny that people choose. We say they choose what they desire, and that God rules even the desires of the heart. Unit 3 will show that fallen people are responsible for their sin because they sin willingly, not because they are neutral. Moral responsibility in Scripture rests on God's command, not on the power to choose otherwise.

Objection 4: Open theism. Some modern evangelical writers propose that God does not know the future free choices of His creatures in detail, so that He can truly respond to them. They want to honor God's relationship with His people.

Our answer. This view departs from the church's historic confession. Scripture presents God as knowing the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10) and as foretelling the free acts of kings and nations. The Lord's relationship with His people is real, but it is not founded on His ignorance.

Pastoral Application

A woman in your congregation loses her teenage son in a road accident. At the funeral she asks you quietly, "Did God do this? Or did He just let it happen?"

First, do not hurry to give her a lecture. Sit with her. Job's friends were most useful when they sat in silence (Job 2:13), and least useful when they began to explain.

Second, speak plainly when the time comes. Tell her that nothing in her son's life or death was outside the Father's hand, and that this is a comfort and not a threat, because the one who rules is the Father of Jesus Christ. Read Lord's Day 10 of the Heidelberg Catechism, or Romans 8, together.

Third, do not claim to know why. Scripture does not give the reasons for each loss. Do not say "God needed another angel," which is not in the Bible. Say what we know: the Lord is good, He is near to the brokenhearted, and Christ has conquered death.

Fourth, remain with her in the weeks after the funeral. Sovereignty is learned most deeply in the long days when the doctrine becomes a place to rest.

Summary

The Reformed tradition begins with God, not with a list of points. Scripture teaches that He rules creation, nations, the future, and our own salvation. The confessions call His eternal plan the decree and its outworking in time providence, which includes preservation, concurrence and government. The cross shows both God's plan and human guilt together, as does the story of Joseph. God is not the author of sin, and people remain responsible because they act willingly through secondary causes. The old idea that predestination was the "central dogma" of Calvinism has been corrected by recent historians. We answer the objections of fatalism, God as author of sin, loss of freedom, and open theism by pointing to Scripture and to the comfort this doctrine gives. In ministry, it makes us patient with those who suffer and gives us courage to pray and to preach.

Further Reading

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book I, chapters 16 to 18 (Beveridge translation, 1845), on providence.

• Heidelberg Catechism (1563), questions 1, 26 to 28.

• Belgic Confession (1561), articles 12 and 13.

• Westminster Confession of Faith (1646-47), chapters 2, 3 and 5; Westminster Shorter Catechism, questions 1, 4, 7 and 11.

• Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (1872-73), the volume on theology proper.

• Canons of Dort (1619), Head 1, for how the decree relates to salvation.

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