The Purpose of Death – Part 6 - The Problem of Evil and a Sovereign God

In this section, it’s my intention to present another solution to the problem of evil (theodicy). I realize that the question of free-will vs. sovereignty and the Arminian and Calvinist debate has raged for centuries. Not everyone is going to agree with this position – but I want to present what I believe.

Another point to note is that CAT does not specifically dive into the free will issues with the problem of evil – however since this is a natural outflow to their argument of “God didn’t make it that way,” we are therefore visiting this topic now.

Note that the ideas presented here came largely from Matt Slick and several episodes from his Faith and Reason Radio show. (http://www.carm.org/radio/radio.htm) as well as a very excellent article by Gary Crampton hosted on the LEADERU web site.

Previously, we reviewed the free will theodicy argument that states that God did not create things the way we see them today and that man actualized his evil potential. Further we saw that the other position sees free will as only being effective if we have the potential for both good and evil.

My disagreement with this approach is in the nature of free will and not in the notion of free will itself. Many times Arminians (and other libertarians) object to Calvinism because they think that we reject free will. That is not the case. We would affirm that mankind has a free will – we just would differ from the libertarian as to the nature of that free will.

The problem with the Arminian theodicy is that it stops short in its explanation of evil. It rightly says that God did not create the world with human sin. It rightly states that things have not always been like we see them today. It even rightly states that free will choices account for evil. Yet it does not answer why God would allow evil.

The Calvinist position is described in section 3 of the Westminster Confession of Faith as it comments on the eternal decrees of God:

3.1 God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass;[1] yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin,[2] nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.[3]

1) Eph 1:1-11 says that God works all things after the counsel of His will.
That is ALL things – both what we would term good and evil.

2) Does God predestine that bad things will happen? Or put another way, Does God predestine that sin occurs?

3) To answer this we must look at the two wills of God. Within God’s eternal will and knowledge, there is a decretive will (God’s decrees) and His permissive (perceptive) will. Some things God decrees, some things God permits.

4) As an example of a decretive will: 1) the creation of the world, 2) the crucifixion of Christ. God directly decrees these things because He directly wants this to happen. There is no stopping the decretive will of God.

5) God’s permissive will is when he permits things to occur – like sin, evil, murder, mayhem…

6) Now if God permits something that is evil, the He is willing that it occur – He is allowing it because it is within His will for it to occur. (not to mention God’s exhaustive foreknowledge of what will happen)

7) Summary – within God’s will he ordains certain things specifically and allows certain things to happen (passively) but both of them are by His desire to let them occur. So does God ordain bad things to happen? Does God ordain sin? The answer is yes.

8) As an example, let’s look at Acts 4:27-28

27for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,28to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (ESV)

This does not mean that He looked into the future to see what was going to occur and then predestined that – that would be illogical. If God looks through the corridor of time and finds that something takes place and says, “Wala – I think such and such should take place,” it’s a mockery of God to call that predestination. It doesn’t follow.

Herod, Pilate, the romans, and the people of Israel all acted on their free will and yet we find that their free will choices brought forth exactly what God had planned from the beginning of time.

God foreknew, even foreordained, the crucifixion of His Son by the hands of sinful men. The godless men who carried out the act are responsible for their sin (Acts 2:22-23; 4:27-28). Could they have done differently? Could Judas Iscariot not have betrayed Jesus Christ? To ask the questions is to answer them. Christian theology does not deny that Adam (and all men after him, for that matter) had a "free will" in the sense of "free moral agency." Men are not rocks or machines. All men think and choose in this sense of the term; otherwise, they could not act. Men choose to do what they want to think and to do; in fact, they could do no other than choose. What Christian theology does deny is that man has the "freedom of indifference." His ability to choose is always governed by factors: his own intellections, habits, and so forth. All his choices are determined by the eternal decrees of God. [4]

9) So God ordains what occurs – he allows or plans things to occur.

10) Now we take that a step further. God can also plan for an allowance. Since He knows all things, He can plan to allow something. Then we say in this sense that He is decreeing it or ordaining that thing in which he plans to allow.

11) Does God cause evil to occur directly? NO. Thus the Westminster Confession states: “yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin.[2]” God is Holy Perfect Pure – he does not create and bring into existence evil directly.

12) But, God can ordain for something to exist – by arranging the circumstances so that it will exist or come to pass – yet it is not God that directly performs or forces evil.

13) Some would say that if God works behind the scenes to allow things to happen, then is God not doing the sin/evil directly? No. Let’s use an analogy to help flesh this out.

14) Let’s suppose that I were to take my son and put before him on the table a bowl of ice cream on the left, and a bowl of worms, grubs, compost, and manure on the right. At that moment in time, my son has a choice in what dish he will partake of. However its pretty clear which one he is going to choose. I know my son, and he is not one that would cherish manure mouth. In this instance, he is going to choose the dish that most closely adheres to his desires at the time. Ice cream it will be.

This brings us to a more Biblically based definition of free-will. Calvinists believe that man’s will is enslaved in sin and totally and completely impacted by sin. Free will is defined as acting in accordance with the strongest desire at a given point in time and acting thus in accordance with our nature.

So in the analogy, by arranging the circumstances in the way I did, I am in essence ordaining what my son will choose. Then he makes a freewill choice to do what I want him to do.

15) Does this lesson in any way his free will choice? Absolutely not – he still has a choice. Does this mean that I was the author of him eating the ice cream? No he ate it not me. Can it be said that because I knew which one he would choose, that his choice was none the less a real choice? No – it was a real free will choice. It’s just that it was NOT a libertarian choice apart from any external influence.

16) Thus God is able to work things and bring things about where he allows it to happen and can ordain it to happen, but he is not the author of it. This is the source of the Westminster Confession statement “nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures”

17) Now all analogies break down at some point, and we can not compare my knowledge of my sons likes and dislikes to the exhaustive knowledge of God. Nonetheless it illustrates a different type of free will in man, and illustrates how man’s free will actions are compatible with the ordaining decrees of God.

18) The Westminster Confession continues with, “nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.”

God, says the Confession, is the sovereign first cause of all things, many of which occur through the free acts of man. Man is free from the control of molecules in his brain, but not from the decrees of God. The end that is decreed by God must never be separated from the means that He has also decreed, as second causes. God, wrote Clark, "does not arrange things or control history apart from second causes.... God does not decree [the end] apart from the means. He decrees that the end shall be accomplished by means of the means."[5]

This is the reason, according to the Confession, that God is not to be considered "the author or approver of sin." God is the sovereign first cause of sin, but He is not the author of sin. Only creatures can commit and do commit sin.[6]

19) As a final point, there are certain aspects of God’s character that can only be seen in the presence of evil. God’s wrath is poured out on sinners. If there were no sin and no evil, God would have nothing to pour his wrath on – and thus we would not see that portion of His character. God’s amazing grace is a grace that SAVES us from sin. If there were no sin or evil, we would not need saving. We would not need a savior. And if God were never to reveal His wrath, His mercy would not be so amazing.

So as a summary – here is a consistent and biblical theodicy.

God is the first cause of all things. He ordains sinful actions by men to further His plan. Sin and evil exist for pure and holy reasons and they are part of God’s plan. They work for and towards the furtherance of God’s glory and they ultimately are turned to the good of God’s people (even though such a turn be contrary to the one doing the sin/evil).

Gary summarizes his article like this:

It seems, then, that this … view of the purpose of creation is in agreement with a number of the Puritans who referred to the Genesis 3 event as "the fortunate Fall." Not only is the only logically consistent universe one in which evil exists for God's purposes, but God's people will be far more blessed because of the incarnation and Christ than they could ever have been blessed by an obedient Adam. [7]

Notes:

[1][2][3] are from the scripture proofs from the Westminster Confession of Faith –
http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/index.html

[1] EPH 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. ROM 11:33 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! HEB 6:17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath. ROM 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

[2] JAM 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 1JO 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

[3] ACT 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. MAT 17:12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. ACT 4:27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. JOH 19:11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. PRO 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.

[4] W. Gary Crampton in A Biblical Theodicy - http://www.leaderu.com/theology/theodicy.html (accessed 7/9/2007)

[5] Ibid. quoting Gordon H. Clark, What Do Presbyterians Believe? (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1956, 1965), 38.

[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.