God's sovereignty no more means that He is able to determine how we make our free choices, any more than His omnipotence means that He is able to create a rock so heavy that He cannot lift it.
[for the record, i believe that God is sovereign and unable to determine how we make our free choices, just as i believe that God is omnipotent and unable to create a rock so heavy that He cannot lift it.
His Omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to Him, but not nonsense. This is no limit to His power. If you choose to say 'God can give a creature free will and at the same time withhold free will from it', you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix them with the two other words 'God can'.
It remains true that all things are possible with God: the intrinsic impossibilities are not things but nonentities. It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of His creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives; not because His power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God.
- C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain]
even as God is sovereign, He does not determine how we make our free choices. otherwise, our free choices would no longer be free! however, He determines the circumstances under which we make our free choices.
imagine, for the sake of argument, that there are two possible worlds. in world 1, A freely chooses to be saved and B freely chooses not to be saved. in world 2, A freely chooses not to be saved and B freely chooses to be saved.
even as God is sovereign over world 1, He does not determine A's free choice to be saved or B's free choice not to be saved. A determines A's free choice to be saved and B determines B's free choice not to be saved.
even as God is sovereign over world 2, He does not determine A's free choice not to be saved and B's free choice to be saved. A determines A's free choice not to be saved and B determines B's free choice to be saved.
what God determines is which world He creates - that is, the world which gives Him the most glory. this is the best possible world (from His perspective and in His free knowledge). in this way, He determines the circumstances under which we make our free choices.
if God creates world 1 because it gives Him the most glory, B (who is saved in world 2 but not in world 1) cannot object that he would have freely chosen to be saved in world 2. the point is not that B would have freely chosen to be saved under different circumstances (even if that is true). the point is that B could have freely chosen to be saved in world 1, yet freely chose not to be saved in world 1.
if God creates world 2 because it gives Him the most glory, A (who is saved in world 1 but not in world 2) cannot object that he would have freely chosen to be saved in world 1. the point is not that A would have freely chosen to be saved under different circumstances (even if that is true). the point is that A could have freely chosen to be saved in world 2, yet freely chose not to be saved in world 2.
in other words, it is not the case that:
1. there is one possible world in which God determines how we make our free choices.
2. God creates the only possible world.
rather, it is the case that:
1. there are many possible worlds in which we make different free choices, depending on the different circumstances in different possible worlds.
2. God creates the best possible world (from His perspective and in His free knowledge).
for God to be sovereign is not for Him to be able to determine how we make our free choices, but for Him to be able to determine how our free choices work 'for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28, NIV).
again, God determines how our free choices work 'for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28, NIV) by creating the best possible world (from His perspective and in His free knowledge).
No comments:
Post a Comment