The following are some observations about the relationship between Divine Sovereignty and Human Choice.“For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” Romans 11:33-36 Note three impediments to grasping these revealed truths:

• we come with preconceived ideas about the meaning of words like “predestination,” “foreknowledge,” “election” (choosing), and “adoption” instead of allowing the Word to speak for itself;
  


• we confuse these truths as if the words were interchangeable;


• we are seeking to understand with finite minds what is infinite.

Yet there is something for us to enjoy in these truths or God would not have revealed them. As much as possible, we must let the Word define both the words and their relationship to each other so that our understanding is consistent with the Bible.

Three verses help us understand the relationships between these 4 aspects of sovereignty:

• “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ…” (1 Pet. 1:2).


• “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Eph. 1:5)


• “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).

Here are four aspects of God’s sovereign choice; they have nothing to do with man’s choice (a real and vital issue in itself). The sovereignty of God is sometimes defined in terms like this: “One who exercises supreme authority” or “freedom from external control.” But this must be understood in the context of the character of God. Sovereignty is not an ATTRIBUTE of God, since there was a time when God was not sovereign (when there was only God, since sovereignty describes His rule over His subjects). This is essential to understand, since the attributes of God determine in what way His sovereignty is expressed. His sovereignty DOES NOT control the free expression of His attributes.

God's sovereignty in action:

Chart originally published in Uplook Magazine, Oct. 1999