Can Free Will and God’s Sovereignty Co-Exist? – Lunchtime Talks Podcast
What do we mean by “God’s sovereignty”?
Oxford English Dictionary (OED):
Sovereign (n): “A supreme ruler, especially a monarch.”
Sovereign (adj.): “Possessing supreme or ultimate power.”
Cambridge Dictionary:
Sovereign (adj.): “Having the highest power or being completely independent.”
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1
Creation, whose lump of play-doh is it?
“All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Colossians 1:16-17
“Why does this creator-creature distinction matter so much?…the universe is not necessary, and God did not create because he had to. God did not make the universe to satisfy something that was incomplete in him. He does not need the universe in order to be who he is, and he does not need us in order to be fulfilled.”
Christopher Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory
What do we mean by “free will”?
The proper lens through which to view God’s Sovereignty is the cross of God’s love.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
John 3:16-17
We can lean into the sovereignty of God because we can trust the character of God.
“Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh,” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver… “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
God’s sovereignty becomes not a prison to fear but a freedom to rest in.
“The sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which the child of God rests his head at night, giving perfect peace.”
Charles Spurgeon
“I start this day, good God, confessing that I did not make myself, cannot keep myself, could never save myself. And so, I turn to you— my maker, keeper, and savior through Jesus Christ.”
Cornelius Plantinga, Morning and Evening Prayers
