Primary Cause in Evil and Sin

(The one hour version)

God’s control of events in History

Not only does God control Nature, but because of this is “in every action directing” the events of History. The Scripture plainly declares that God is the primary cause behind everything that happens.

Lamentations 3:37-38 – 37 Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it? 38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth? NASB

Isaiah 45:7 – 7 The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these. NASB

Consider the words of Jonathan Edwards on this matter…

“God decreed from all eternity all the evil that He ever does permit, because God’s permitting is God’s forbearing to act or to prevent. It can be made evident by reason that nothing can come to pass but what is the will and pleasure of God should come to pass.”

Now the fact that events are seen to be under the control of God is plainly evident in Scripture. In fact this is the main theme of the whole Bible! God is Providentially working His will in all things to accomplish His own purposes for the display of His own Glory, Name and Power!

Ephesians 1:9-11 – 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, NASB

Examples from the Old Testament

Many examples could be cited from the Old Testament, here are a few…..

The Creation Account – Genesis chapters 1-2
The Flood – Genesis chapters 6-8
The Confounding of the Languages – Genesis chapter 11
The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah – Genesis chapter 19
The Plagues of Egypt – Exodus chapters 7-12
The Exodus, Red Sea, Manna, Water from the Rock – Exodus chapters 14-17
Mt Sinai and the Giving of the Law – Exodus chapters 19-20
Defeat of Sihon and Og – Numbers chapter 21
Conquest of Canaan – Joshua
Numerous interventions in Judges – Judges
Defeat of Sennacherib and 185,000 Assyrians – 2 Kings chapter 19

God’s Purposes – God’s Decrees and Foreordination

The Display of His Glory and Excellence – The Ultimate End

God has many purposes for which He made the creation. Indeed everything He has made has a specific purpose to fulfill in the grand scheme of His plan for the ages. Everything has a very wonderful and awesome reason for existing, and all things ultimately work out into conformity with the purposes of God as we have seen. In fact everything that God does has its own purpose.

Proverbs 16:4 – 4
The LORD has made everything for its own purpose
, Even the wicked for the day of evil. NASB

Consider these verses in Ephesians 1…….

Ephesians 1:11-12 – 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. NASB

In these verses, the salvation of the saints is seen to be “predestined according to God’s purpose,” but notice that this is not God’s highest purpose. Oh no, here it says that the predestination of salvation is “to the end that we……should be to the praise of His glory!” Learn then that the salvation of men is NOT God’s highest purpose, but it is works to the higher purpose of the “praise of the glory of God!” So whenwe ask the question, what is the highestpurpose of God in creating all things, what do you suppose would be the answer? What purpose is it which makes all purposes subservient to it? What is the chief end for which God created all things? I think it can be most clearly summed up in the statement……

The Certainty of God’s Purposes Being Fulfilled

Now it is clearly evident that if God is indeed all-powerful and all-knowing, and that He is governing His creation by a mighty Providence, and that all of this is happening according to God’s plans and purposes, that these purposes are immutable(unchanging and certain). The Bible plainly declares that God purposes will be established in History, His plans and counsel are certain.

Psalm 33:11 – 11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation. NASB

Proverbs 19:21 – 1 Many are the plans in a man’s heart, But the counsel of the LORD, it will stand. NASB

Hebrews 6:17 – 17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, NASB

Now this matter is all related to the Sovereign Authority of God. If God is Omniscient and Omnipotent, He must have Sovereignly decreed everything that happens. He has “declared” OR “proclaimed” as a matter of His Counsel and Will everything that comes to pass. This we call the “Decree” of God. This is because God’s plans cannot be thwarted or hindered, because by His invisible hand He carries them out in History by His Providence. The Bible plainly declares that God has declared the end from the beginning and that all His Holy counsel will be established in History. God will bring to pass what He wills, His Sovereign Decrees.

Isaiah 46:9-11 – “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; 11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it. NASB

Consider the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism on the Decrees of God….. Question 7: What are the Decrees of God? – Answer: The Decrees of God are, His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

Ephesians 1:9-11 – 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, NASB

Whatever comes to pass has been eternally Decreed by God. This means that God has “approved” of all of the events of History, (in the ultimate sense of permitting or preventing them). This we call “Foreordination.” God has “Fore” (from before time began),“ordained” all that ever does come to pass in History. Consider how Jonathan Edwards has described this….“Whether God has decreed all things that ever come to pass or not, all that own the being of a God, own that He knows all things beforehand. Now, it is self-evident that if He knows all things beforehand, He doth approve of them or doth not approve of them; that is, He is either willing they should be, or He is not willing they should be. But to will that they should be is to decree them.”

Numbers 23:19 – 9 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? NASB

Another quote from Jonathon Edwards explains God’s Decrees in relation to the problem of evil, “God decreed from all eternity all the evil that He ever does permit, because God’s permitting is God’s forebearing to act or to prevent. It can be made evident by reason that nothing can come to pass but what is the will and pleasure of God should come to pass.” (Job 12:13-22, Prov 8:14-16, Isaiah 40, Acts 2:23, 4:28) Learn then that History is the product of God’s eternally wise planning, creative purpose, providential preservation, and common grace. God fills space and time with his presence, sustains it, and gives it purpose and value. The omnipresent and omnipotent One is Lord of time and history, not vice versa. God does not negate time but fulfills it. In it His purposes are accomplished.

Isaiah 14:24-27 – 24 The LORD of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand, 25 to break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his yoke will be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulder. 26 “This is the plan devised against the whole earth; and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. 27 “For the LORD of hosts has planned , and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?” NASB

Sovereignty Chart – see other page

Distinctions in God’s Will – Is everything that happens God’s will?

As we have seen, God’s will is seen as the final authority and the ultimate reason for everything that happens. God’s “permitting” or “preventing” in Providence is the determining factor. But is everything that happens God’s will? This can be a very puzzling question unless you make a distinction which is clearly seen in Scripture. The distinction is between God’s Sovereign will and God’s Moral will. Many times in Scripture we see that God’s desire for our moral conduct is violated by the free choices of mankind, yet God does not prevent but rather permits this to occur. So then it is not His “moral will” that evil should take place, but in His “Sovereign will” He has permitted it to happen. We find out God’s “moral will” by simply reading His “precepts” and “commanded will” about what we should do or how we should behave. We find out God’s “Sovereign will” when events actually happen and the “secret” counsel of God is “revealed”, the things He has planned and “decreed” from all eternity. So when we ask questions like, “Is it God’s will for me to do this or that,” we simply look to God’s revelation in Scripture about what He desires for us to do. But when events actually occur, we see what the secret counsel of God’s Sovereign will, what he has ordained and approved(what He has permitted or prevented to occur) as it is revealed in time and space. Therefore it is important when discussing these matters to make a clear distinction in the “will of God” for the sake of properly understanding one another when we make statements about God’s will. See the table below on the “Two Wills of God.”

Two Wills Chart – see other page

Examples of distinctions in God’s will are clearly seen in Scripture or in the world around us. Many times it is NOT God’s will(His moral will, His general desire) for evil to take place, but his permitting and NOT preventing obviously makes it His Sovereign will(His will of Decree or Secret will), that which He determined should happen from all Eternity. Consider the following…..

Genesis 50:20 – Joseph and his brothers

Genesis 50:20 – 20 “And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. NASB

Acts 2:23 – The murder of Jesus

Acts 2:23 – 23 this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. NASB

Genocide in War
911- The Twin Towers

In light of this knowledge, consider afresh the statement we looked at by Jonathan Edwards…

“God decreed from all eternity all the evil that He ever does permit, because God’s permitting is God’s forbearing to act or to prevent. It can be made evident by reason that nothing can come to pass but what is the will and pleasure of God should come to pass.”

Know then that the Scripture plainly declares a distinction in the will of God between His Sovereign(Secret or Decreed) and Moral(Commanded or Revealed) will.

What about Evil? Does God cause Evil? Does God ordain evil?

Grudem wisely states……. “If God does indeed cause, through his providential activity, everything that comes about in the world, then the question arises…”What is the relationship between God and evil in the world?” Does God actually cause the evil actions that people do? If he does, then is God not responsible for sin? We can begin by looking at several passages that affirm that God did, indeed, cause evil events to come about and evil deeds to be done. But we must remember that in all these passages it is very clear that” …and also the following…..

Scripture nowhere shows God as directly doing anything evil but rather as bringing about evil deeds through the willing actions of moral creatures.
Scripture never blames God for evil or shows God as taking pleasure in evil
Scripture never excuses human beings for the wrong they do.

However we understand God’s relationship to evil, we must never…..

come to the point where we think that we are not responsible for the evil that we do
or that God takes pleasure in evil or is to be blamed for it.

“There are literally dozens of Scripture passages that say that God (indirectly) brought about some kind of evil. I have quoted such an extensive list (in the next few paragraphs) because Christians often are unaware of the extent of this forthright teaching in Scripture. Yet it must be remembered that in all of these examples, the evil is actually done not by God but by people or demons who choose to do it.”

Genesis ch 37-45 … A very clear example is found in the story of Joseph. Scripture clearly says that Joseph’s brothers were wrongly jealous of him (Gen. 37:11), hated him (Gen. 37:4, 5, 8), wanted to kill him (Gen. 37:20), and did wrong when they cast him into a pit (Gen. 37:24) and then sold him into slavery in Egypt (Gen. 37:28). Yet later Joseph could say to his brothers, “God sent me before you to preserve life” (Gen. 45:5), and “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today”(Gen. 50:20). Here we have a combination of evil deeds brought about by sinful men who are rightly held accountable for their sin and the overriding providential control of God whereby God’s own purposes were accomplished. Both are clearly affirmed.
Exodus ch 4-14… The story of the exodus from Egypt repeatedly affirms that God hardened the heart of Pharaoh: God says, “I will harden his heart” (Ex. 4:21), “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” (Ex. 7:3), “the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh” (Ex. 9:12), “the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart” (Ex. 10:20, repeated in 10:27 and again in 11:10), “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart” (Ex. 14:4), and “the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Ex. 14:8).

What was God’s purpose in this? Paul reflects on Exodus 9:16 and says, “For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth”‘ (Rom. 9:17). Then Paul infers a general truth from this specific example: “So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills” (Rom. 9:18). In fact, God also hardened the hearts of the Egyptian people so that they pursued Israel into the Red Sea: “I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen” (Ex. 14:17). This theme is repeated in Psalm 105:25: “He turned their hearts to hate his people.”

Joshua 11:20… “For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be utterly destroyed” (Josh. 11:20; see also Judg. 3:12; 9:23).
Judges 14:4… And Samson’s demand to marry an unbelieving Philistine woman “was from the Lord; for he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel”
1 Samuel 2:25… We also read that the sons of Eli, when rebuked for their evil deeds, “would not listen to the voice of their father; for it was the will of the Lord to slay them“
2 Samuel 24:1, 1 Chronicles 21:1…Still later in David’s life, the Lord “incited” David to take a census of the people (2 Sam. 24:1), but afterward David recognized this as sin, saying, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done” (2 Sam. 24:10), and God sent punishment on the land because of this sin (2 Sam. 24:12–17). However, it is also clear that “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel” (2 Sam. 24:1), so God’s inciting of David to sin was a means by which he brought about punishment on the people of Israel. Moreover, the means by which God incited David is made clear in 1 Chronicles 21:1: “Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to number Israel.” In this one incident the Bible gives us a remarkable insight into the three influences that contributed in different ways to one action: God, in order to bring about his purposes, worked through Satan to incite David to sin, but Scripture regards David as being responsible for that sin.

Grudem…”In many of the passages mentioned above, God brings evil and destruction on people in judgment upon their sins: They have been disobedient or have strayed into idolatry, and then the Lord uses the following to bring judgment on them…”

evil human beings
demonic forces
“natural” disasters

“Therefore, when God brings evil on human beings, whether to discipline his children, or to lead unbelievers to repentance, or to bring a judgment of condemnation and destruction upon hardened sinners, none of us can charge God with doing wrong. Ultimately all will work in God’s good purposes to bring glory to him and good to his people. Yet we must realize that in punishing evil in those who are not redeemed (such as Pharaoh, the Canaanites, and the Babylonians), God is also glorified through the demonstration of his justice, holiness, and power” (see Ex. 9:16; Rom. 9:14–24). End Grudems’s commentary here…..

Primary Cause – “God created evil,” and if you qualify what you mean by saying that you think He is the primary cause of evil because He made a world in which it can exist and He permits it in His Providence to bring about His own purpose and decree…well then we know what you mean and we’ll graciously concur!

God did not create evil.

To use those terms is to wrongly ascribe to God something scripture nowhere ascribes to God.

On the contrary, God cannot actually do evil because He IS God, and therefore good in all His ways, He cannot do evil, it is impossible.

However, He is the primary cause behind all evil in the sense that He created the world and its willing moral agents upon it who have the will and ability to carry it out…. Moreover in His Sovereign Will He has decreed that evil can and will exist in His world to accomplish many divers purposes, but all subservient to His highest purpose of manifesting His glory and excellency as God.

In short, God has permitted evil in His creation to ultimately manifest facets of His glory that could not otherwise be manifested… evil ultimately serves the purpose of glorifying God (when all is summed up and justice is served etc, etc…).

Primary Cause – “God makes us sin,” and if you qualify what you mean by saying that you think God makes us sin because He is the primary cause of all things and by His providence He is carrying out His eternal decree concerning everything that happens in the circumstances of History (Eph 1:11, Lam 3:37, Isa 14:24-27) according to His sovereign will…. well then we know what you mean and we’ll graciously concur!

God does not make us sin.

To use these terms is to wrongly ascribe to God something scripture nowhere ascribes to God.

Would it not be a horrible injustice if God made us sin and then held us accountable for that sin? Let me use Judas as an example. Yes Judas is the appointed one to betray Christ. Judas was appointed by God to do this from eternity, God decreed Judas betrayal of Christ and foretold it in the OT…. Psa 41:9, Zec 11:13. But God did not make Judas sin, God did not take pleasure in Judas’ sin, God did not twist Judas arm, or put evil thoughts in His head. Rather God knew how Judas would respond in his God given circumstances, and permitted Judas to make the willing choices that led to Christ’s betrayal, even though there is a very real sense it which God was the primary cause having decreed that it would happen from eternity and brought it to pass by His providence and means.

Where the mystery of divine Providence and human responsibility intersect is a certain mystery, yet they DO and we don’t completely understand it. But we accept it by faith because the Scripture clearly teaches this.