I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD,
who does all these things (Isaiah 45.5-7).
It has been my observation that many people like to think of God as a kind of protective big brother. It is somehow reassuring to know that God has nothing to do with all the bad things that happen in the world and he’ll kiss your “boo-boo” when your hurt and soon everything will be better. Pop religion presents God as a sympathetic and comforting old man who is as baffled by evil as the rest of us. That he is responsible for evil rarely crosses most people’s minds. That God is good is undeniable, but that he decrees really bad things is also quite true. However it must be kept in mind that God is neither the author of sin nor is he touched by sin. “God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: (Eph. 1:11, Rom. 11:33, Heb. 6:17, Rom. 9:15, 18) yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, (James 1:13, 17, 1 John 1:5) nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. (Acts 2:23, Matt. 17:12, Acts 4:27-28, John 19:11, Prov. 16:33) (WCF, Chapter III.1). In C. S. Lewis’ children’s stories, Aslan, the allegorical Christ, is asked by Susan, “Is he [Aslan]—quite safe? … ‘Safe?’ said Mr. Beaver. ‘Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.” In Scripture this may be illustrated by one of many stories in the Old Testament. A short time after David experienced a great victory over the Philistines, he attempted to return the ark of God from the house of Abinadab to Jerusalem. The ark had been placed on a new cart and was being pulled by oxen. When one of the oxen stumbled, Uzzah’s innocent (perhaps) but thoughtless reflex reaction was to put out his hand to stabilize the ark. When he touched it the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died beside the ark of God (2 Samuel 6.6-7; Numbers 16; cp. Hebrews 12.18-29). God takes his holiness very seriously (cp. Numbers 4.15); those who would approach him ought to
do likewise.
So then, if those who are designated as belonging to God are subjected to such harsh treatment, how then can anyone “feel” safe in his presence? More than that, if both the Old and New Testaments testify that he is responsible for hardening the hearts of individuals, then are not the penetrating questions raised by Paul’s interlocutor quite justifiable: You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” These questions continue to be asked by those who think that such a theological position presents God as unjust or capricious. Does not Paul’s declaration of God’s salvific sovereignty rightly raise the question his justice? If he decrees wickedness and rebellion, how then can one be fairly judged for his or her actions?
Before analyzing what Paul does say in response to this objection, we do well to note what he does not say. He makes no reference to human works or human faith (whether foreseen or not) as the basis of God’s act of hardening (as so many of Paul’s “defender” have done). Nor does he defuse the issue by confining God’s hardening only to matters of salvation history; quite the contrary, vv. 22-23 make more explicit than ever that Paul is dealing with questions of eternal destiny. In fact, Paul never offers – here or anywhere else – a “logical” solution to the tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility that he creates. That he affirms the latter is, of course, clear, and we must never forget that Paul will go on in 9:30-10:21 to attribute the Jews’ condemnation to their own willful failure to believe. Paul is content to hold the truths of God’s absolute sovereignty – in both election and hardening – and of full human responsibility without reconciling them. We would do well to emulate his approach. (Douglas Moo, Romans, p. 601)
It is the basic assumption in Scripture that God is good and will do what is right. Such thinking gives Abraham courage to debate with God for the souls of those in Sodom and Gomorrah: Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is just? How then does one reconcile what appears to be two incompatible ideas?
A SOVEREIGN GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF SIN
Foremost in one’s reflection is the need to recognize that Paul does not debate the justice of God’s actions or motives; to do so would be presumptuous. How can a finite created being adequately assess the action of his infinite creator? Paul puts his interlocutor in his place: But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” The question is rhetorical. It is, of course, legitimate humbly to inquire as to why God orders events, but it is sinful to attempt to hold God accountable to his creation for his action. Whether or not God chooses to answer is his prerogative. The psalmist inquires of the Lord: Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? (Psalm 44.23), but further reading reveals his question is rooted in faith and a plea for aid: Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! The question by Paul’s interlocutor by way of contrast is pugnacious and reminiscent of Isaiah 29.16: You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding?” The simple truth is that the potter has the right to do with his clay whatever he wishes. That is to say, absolutely nothing in this world happens apart from the sovereign will of God: not the death of a child, not even the events of 9/11. There is no evil that comes into this world that is outside the control of the sovereign majesty of God’s divine will, and this includes every soul that is eternally condemned to hell.
As we noted last week, before anyone is born and done anything, good or bad, it is God who decided who would believe and be undeservingly saved and who would continue in his sinful condition and be deservingly condemned. So then, if God hardens whomever he wills (9.17-18), then why does he find fault with the one who cannot resist his will? First, there is a qualitative difference between the Potter and the clay. The clay [human] does not have the depth of wisdom or the breath of experience to evaluate in any meaningful way the actions of an infinitely wise and holy God. Second, it is precisely because God desired to show his wrath and make known his power over sin that he endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. By this he makes known the riches of his glory for his vessels of mercy, which he predestined for glory (cp. 9.22.23).
The Exodus background makes it clear how God’s raising up of Pharaoh contributed to the widespread publication of his power and name: Pharaoh’s obduracy required God to work miracle after miracle in order to secure his purpose. But how has God’s patient toleration of the vessels of wrath served the purpose of manifesting his wrath and power? On two other occasions Paul ascribes “patience” (makrothymia) to God, and both assume a positive purpose for that patience: allowing an opportunity of repentance (Rom. 2:4; 1 Tim. 1:16). … Paul may here be viewing the revelation of God’s wrath and power as taking place at the final judgment (as he often does; see, e.g., Rom. 2:5). In this case, the purpose of God’s patience here would be to allow the rebellion of his creation to gain force and intensity so that his consequent victory is all the more glorious and also (and perhaps primarily) to give opportunity for him to bestow his mercy on those whom he has chosen for his own (v. 23). (Moo, p. 606)
In everything God does he fully demonstrates his glory: whether this be in a display of his wrath against sin or his electing work of salvation. God’s purpose is to demonstrate his love toward the objects of his mercy that they may know him more fully and ascribe to him the glory and worship due him. Proper worship requires a knowledge of God’s awful majesty, authority, dreadful greatness, justice, and holiness. Of course, these attributes are inseparable from his eternal decrees of sin and its punishment. The true glory of God would be imperfectly conceived if one did not also grasp the juxtaposition of God’s hatred of sin and the glory of his goodness, love, and holiness. The self-evident truth of this is an impossibility without God’s decree of both sin and its punishment. “So evil is necessary, in order to obtain the highest happiness of the creature, and to facilitate a proper worship of God’s holiness which is the very reason for mankind’s existence. Man’s happiness is predicated on his knowledge of God, and the sense of his love. If that knowledge is imperfect, then his happiness will be proportionately imperfect” (Jonathan Edwards, Concerning the Divine Decrees, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1974], p. 528).
GOD TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL THINGS
Another biblical illustration of this truth may be found in Isaiah 44.24-45.25, where the reader will find a prophetic declaration of the absolute sovereignty of God in all things. The entire section is framed by two statements: I am the LORD, who made all things (44.24a), and I am the LORD, who does all these things (45.7b). Isaiah makes three main points in these verses: 1. God accepts responsibility for everything; 2. he warns believers not to take offense at that; 3. God calls Israel to worship him as God (cp. Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., Isaiah: God Saves Sinners, p. 296). The language of Isaiah is very reminiscent of Paul in Romans 9: “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?, or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’” Whatever happens, it is God who directs it all. God accepts responsibility for all his actions.
God does not just allow darkness and calamity [I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things] and then blame someone else. He creates the problems of human history. How could it be otherwise with the Sovereign of the universe? Isaiah is not saying that God sins. That’s our problem. But the strategies of God include within their scope everything that happens as God pursues his redemptive purpose in this world. Evil is not outside God’s control, He uses it without being dirtied by it. There, nothing, however evil, deprives God of one particle of his intended outcomes. Again, how could it be otherwise? What’s the most vicious evil perpetrated in history thus far? The murder of God’s own Son by our guilty hands. But Isaiah says, “It was the will of the LORD to crush him” (53:10). The Apostle Peter preached that Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23; cf. 4:27, 28). … Let’s stop trying to rescue God from a problem he created for himself by claiming full mastery over all things. Let’s not relieve God of his responsibilities as King of the universe. The very thing we perceive as a problem, God perceives as his glory, namely, God owns the dark moments of life. He bends everything around for a saving purpose. (Ortlund, p. 299)
Christians, that is, those who confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, are vessels of mercy. The Christian knows that he does not deserved to be saved. He has no explanation for why he was called out of darkness into the light. There is no plausible reason for his being saved and not someone else. That he is heir to the blessings of God, that he has any hope of everlasting joy is due entirely to the mercy of God. Those who have received mercy are merciful (Matthew 10.8; 5.7; Luke 6.38). “God’s ultimate purpose in his decree of hardening is mercy. But his mercy is in this context clearly discriminating rather than universal: some receive mercy (v. 18), those ‘vessels’ of mercy whom God chooses (vv. 15-16); others, vessels of wrath are hardened (v. 18). … Paul is clear here, as he is elsewhere: some people receive God’s mercy and are saved, while others do not receive that mercy and so are eternally condemned” (Moo, p. 608).
