Decrees of God and Human Free Will Tension
The relationship between the decrees of God and human free will is a longstanding theological conundrum, with various Christian traditions offering distinct perspectives. At its core, the debate revolves around the extent to which God's sovereignty and predestination intersect with human agency and decision-making.
The decrees of God are understood as "his eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be" [1]. This concept is rooted in biblical passages such as Deuteronomy 17:8, which highlights God's role in guiding human judgment. The complexity arises when attempting to reconcile this divine sovereignty with human free will.
One position, represented by Reformed theologians like Charles Hodge and John Calvin, emphasizes the absolute sovereignty of God in determining all events, including human decisions [3, 5]. According to Calvin, God's will is the primary cause of all things, and human decisions are part of the divine plan [5]. This perspective is grounded in scriptures such as Acts 15:28, where the early Christian church is guided by the Holy Spirit.
In contrast, the Catholic (Scholastic) tradition, as exemplified by Thomas Aquinas, posits that God's will imposes necessity on some things but not all, allowing for human freedom in certain aspects [4]. Aquinas argues that the effect of a first cause (God) can be contingent due to secondary causes (human decisions).
The Lutheran tradition, as reflected in the Augsburg Confession, also grapples with the balance between divine sovereignty and human agency. While affirming the importance of God's will, it emphasizes the limitations of human understanding and the need for humility in addressing this complex issue [7].
The Patristic tradition, represented by Augustine, suggests that human free will is a gift from God, but its exercise is influenced by divine grace [6]. This nuanced view acknowledges the interplay between human decision-making and God's sovereignty.
Despite these differing perspectives, all positions agree on the importance of Scripture in guiding understanding. The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (Anglican) affirm that the Church should not decree anything contrary to God's Word [8]. Similarly, the concept of divine decrees is rooted in biblical teachings, such as the idea that God's laws and judgments are to be revered (Deuteronomy 5:23) [2].
The divergence in traditions stems from varying hermeneutical commitments, historical contexts, and prior doctrinal premises. For instance, the Reformed emphasis on divine sovereignty is partly driven by a strong reading of predestination passages in Scripture. In contrast, the Catholic tradition's allowance for human freedom reflects its engagement with Aristotelian philosophy and the concept of secondary causes.
The tension between divine decrees and human free will remains a rich and complex area of theological debate, with different Christian traditions offering unique insights into this multifaceted issue.
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Decrees of God — "The decrees of God are his eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be in their causes, conditions, successions, and relations, and determining their certain futurition. The several contents of this one eternal purpose are, because of the limitation of our faculties, necessarily conceived of by us in partial aspects, and in logical relations, and are therefore styled Decrees." The decree being the act of an infinite, absolute, eternal, unchangeable, and sovereign Person, compre”
- Deuteronomy (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 5:23: Here, I. Moses reminds them of the agreement of both the parties that were now treating, in the mediation of Moses. 1. Here is the consternation that the people were put into by that extreme terror with which the law was given. They owned that they could not bear it any more: "This great fire will consume us; this dreadful voice will be fatal to us; we shall certainly die if we hear it any more," Deu 5:25. They wondered that they were not already struck dead with it, and took it for an extraordinary instance of the divine power and goodness, not only that the”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 1: 1. The Nature of the Divine Decrees 535 The Glory of God the Final Cause of his Decrees.—Decrees reducible to One Purpose.—The Decrees of God are Immutable.—They are Free.—They are certainly Efficacious.—They relate to all Events.—Free Acts are foreordained 543 § 2. Objections to the Doctrine of Divine Decrees 545 1. Foreordination inconsistent with Free Agency.—2. Foreordination of Sin inconsistent with Holiness.—3. The Doctrine of Decrees destroys all Motives to Exertion.—4. It is Fatalism 548 CHAPTER X. CREATION. § 1. Different Theories”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part (Prima Pars), The Will of God, Art. 8: Article: Whether the will of God imposes necessity on the things willed? I answer that, The divine will imposes necessity on some things willed but not on all. The reason of this some have chosen to assign to intermediate causes, holding that what God produces by necessary causes is necessary; and what He produces by contingent causes contingent. This does not seem to be a sufficient explanation, for two reasons. First, because the effect of a first cause is contingent on account of the secondary cause, from the fact ”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 78: God, we shall, as far as the case admits, give an answer to each. Foolish men raise many grounds of quarrel with God, as if they held him subject to their accusations. First, they ask why God is offended with his creatures who have not provoked him by any previous offense; for to devote to destruction whomsoever he pleases, more resembles the caprice of a tyrant than the legal sentence of a judge; and, therefore, there is reason to expostulate with God, if at his mere pleasure men are, without any desert of their own, predestinated”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 5: Augustine — Anti-Pelagian — CHAP. 58.--THE FREE WILL OF MAN IS AN INTER- (part 1): MEDIATE POWER. Let us then, first of all, lay down this proposition, and see whether it satisfies the question before us: that free will, naturally assigned by the Creator to our rational soul, is such a neutral(4) power, as can either incline towards faith, or turn towards unbelief. Consequently a man cannot be said to have even that will with which he believes in God, without having received it; since this rises at the call of God out of the free will which he received naturally when he was create”
- Augsburg Confession (Lutheran) “Augsburg Confession (Lutheran, 1530), 22 What objection can be raised to this? Let men extol the obligation: 22 What objection can be raised to this? Let men extol the obligation of a vow as much as they list, yet shall they not bring to pass that the vow 23 annuls the commandment of God. The Canons teach that the right of the superior is excepted in every vow; [that vows are not binding against the decision of the Pope;] much less, therefore, are these vows of force which are against the commandments of God.”
- Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (Anglican) “Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion (Anglican, 1571), Section 250: The Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith: And yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree any thing against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation.”