The Sovereignty of God

John Piper – The Sovereignty of God and Human Responsibility

John MacArthur – God’s Sovereignty Over All

John Piper on The Sovereignty of God

The Sovereignty of God

The first topic that I tackled some years ago can be placed under the heading “The Sovereignty of God.”  I believe it to be impossible to firmly establish your theological foundation without a proper understanding of this subject as God has expressed it in Scripture.

A.W. Pink, one of great theological minds of the 20th century called this “the key to history, the interpreter of Providence, the warp and woof of Scripture, and the foundation of Christian theology.” His extensive work of the subject is entitled simply, “The Sovereignty of God.” I used it as a starting point for my search of historic Baptist doctrine and theology.

A few other selected writings on the subject:

How would you define the sovereignty of God? By R.C. Sproul

The Absolute Sovereignty of God: What Is Romans Nine About? by John Piper

The Sovereignty of God (from Bondage of the Will) by Martin Luther

The Sole Consideration, that God is God, Sufficient to Still All Objections to His Sovereignty by Jonathan Edwards

Divine Sovereignty by Charles H. Spurgeon

God’s Absolute Sovereignty by John MacArthur

If God is sovereign, is He responsible for evil? By John MacArthur

I have much more digging regarding the specifics of God’s sovereignty in salvation. I’ll continue that in my posts on the blog in the future.

Okay…what’s up with the snake?

I couldn’t resist adding it from John MacArthur’s article above. Read the article to learn the meaning of the snake. I’ll talk about it later.

Another encapsulating quote from Jonathan Edwards:

The Sovereignty of God is the stumbling block on which thousands fall and perish; and if we go contending with God about His sovereignty it will be our eternal ruin. It is absolutely necessary that we should submit to God as an absolute sovereign, and the sovereign of our souls; as one who may have mercy on whom He will have mercy and harden whom He will.

One definition for sovereignty offered by Merriam-Webster is the “freedom from external control.” I like this particular definition in relation to God because He is the only entity in the universe that is truly “free” from any external control. This allows Him to do as He wishes according to His own purposes. As Spurgeon puts it, God asks the question of us, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” R.C. Sproul explains the sovereignty of God as “God owns what he makes, and he rules what he owns.”

Of course, that rubs us terribly wrong in post-modern America where the freedom of the individual is prized above all else and the thought of a being that would interfere with that free exercise of the will does not sit well with us. This is what John Piper calls the “independent, self-sufficient, self-esteeming, self-exalting air that you and I breathe every day of our lives in America.” Sadly, many of those who call the name of Christ can be counted among this number.