A Great Misunderstanding – God Operates All
Claim:
Some think that by such a grand statement God is responsible for evil done say in a rape or murder claiming that God Foreordained it.
A Sensible Rebuttal:
God “allows” creation to do evil by its own choice. He doesn’t Approve any of these evil done.
Please consider the following analogy:
He gave you the knowledge to know evil and gave you the material for the knife (for example).
But to use that knife to murder? That’s your choice in that.
That’s how God “allows” evil.
1 Corinthians 10:13
Are you gonna say that God caused that murder too by operating all? Good luck
A Brief Explanation
God does NOT foreordain sin as part of His Will as some of you believe (try Matthew 7:21, James 1:13, Psalm 5:4) . He allows sin to exist in His Foreknowledge.
His Judgment upon evil (Amos 3:6) type of acts is not to be confused with Him ‘allowing’ (and NOT planning NOR foreordaining) a rapist’s rape (different cases entirely) by creation’s choice to act ‘contrary to His Will’.
These are more serious concerns in understanding God’s Will correctly than falsely accusing a meaning that I never intended by the use of the term free will just because others who use it mean otherwise.
Each will be held accountable for his own words & accusations. Please choose thy words wisely and understand what the other person means first, thank you
“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” – Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 12:37)
Example: Claiming a rapist was foreordained by God through His Wiring may not well be accepted (sounds like lawlessness and please think carefully with this verse, Matthew 7:21)
Please be careful with “your own words” especially ‘what we claim’ that ‘God’s Will approves’ simply because ‘claiming that God Himself made you do it or to speak falsely against Him or that He made you to sin may not be a valid excuse at all nor a sensible one’:
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7)
“They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth.” (Amos 5:10)
All the best
Here’s a Proper Theological Understanding regarding this:
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What is the meaning of God works all things after the Counsel of His Will then?
Verse:
“also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose Who works all things after the counsel of His will,” (Ephesians 1:11)
Facts:
(1) The verse above speaks of ‘Who (God) Works’ = Referring to God’s Acts Alone (be it through Creation obeying His Will or by His Action without creation)
(2) That verse does not speak of the case of creation given the choice to exercise its own will toward evil simply because sin is not God’s Will = not God’s Purpose = against His Will
(3) It speaks of God exercising His Will toward ‘all things’ (all creation) for “His Purpose” to ‘Gather them in one in Christ’ [nothing to do with the context of say a man committing a rape or a murder by his own choice which is allowed as 1 Corinthians 10:13 speaks]
(4) How do we know that His Will to ‘gather all things in Christ’ is meant as ‘His Purpose’ (Context) in Ephesians 1:11 above?
The verse before, please consider:
“with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him” (Ephesians 1:10)
He achieves it in the ‘fullness of the times’ by His Will Alone (as creation’s will does NOT play any role in determining Salvation, example: John 1:13, Romans 8:20 – 21)
(5) It speaks of the ‘Predestination’ of God (the word ‘predestined’ in Ephesians 1:11) toward His Purpose of ‘Gathering all things in Christ’ toward the ‘all things’ —-> despite the ‘all things’ (all in the world, Romans 3:19) have fallen short or missed the mark of His Perfection (Romans 3:23) —-> but yet He Wills to Justify ‘all’ through the Faith of Jesus Christ Alone (Romans 3:22)
(6) The Predestination verses thus speak of ‘God’s Act only’ and ‘toward His Purposes only’ and can NEVER be misused or misinterpreted to refer to things against God’s Will which has been ‘allowed’ but not approved (for which such creation’s will toward ‘evil’ is by their own action and will be judged accordingly for it: Matthew 7:21, John 16:8, John 7:7)
(7) So, Scripture shows three ways God Acts by His Will namely:
(a) God Allows evil to be done first under creation’s choice (James 1:13, James 1:14 – 15, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Ecclesiastes 3:1 – 10 as He appointed a time for this to be exercised & will judge it later Ecclesiastes 3:17)
God created evil (Isaiah 45:7) by allowing it to be done with these ‘control measures’ needed for ‘choice to exist’ as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 10:13 and thus those who do evil will be ‘without excuse’ (responsible for their own acts’):
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)
(b) God sometimes executes evil Judgment upon those evil ones on earth itself (Amos 3:6); ‘Evil Judgment’ rendered back according to the evil done first can refer to Isaiah 45:7 with the principles in Isaiah 3:11 too.
(c) God does Good only by His Influence (James 1:17) through some creation or by Himself ‘only’ (His Acts only, Ephesians 1:8 – 11, 1 Corinthians 15:25 – 28, Colossians 1:20) proving His Sovereignty without doing ‘sin’ as He ordained all these in such manner as Scripture distinguishes these cases distinctly.
*For some ‘good’ such as ‘blessings’, God has Foreordained it by time & “chance” too so that it is unpredictable as it is written:
“I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11)
Cheers
Conclusion
The common fallacy of mixing these cases up which all speak of His Will for each scenario causes contradicting hermeneutics even to the point of ascribing evil to God ‘in some way’ contradicting these verses above (hence such interpretations must be false):
“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)
“Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.” (Job 1:22)
“For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You.” (Psalm 5:4)
‘His Purpose’ in (Ephesians 1:11) or ‘all His Pleasure’ (in Isaiah 46:10) certainly does NOT include ‘wickedness’ as it is ‘NOT His pleasure’ according Psalm 5:4 above. Thus, ‘wickedness’ or ‘evil’ must be ‘allowed’ only (not approved = not Foreordained) but only Foreknown and evil is done by creation’s own will of ‘choice’ as it is written.
