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Summary
- The sovereignty of God is his supreme right and power to rule everything he has made, so that nothing happens outside his knowledge or against his final purpose.
- Joseph’s words to his brothers, “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good,” show human choice and God’s rule at work in the same events.
- Scripture also calls on people to choose, as in “choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19) and “choose you this day whom ye will serve” (Joshua 24:15).
- Reformed teaching holds that God ordains whatever comes to pass and chooses the saved by grace alone; Arminian and Wesleyan teaching holds that Christ died for all and that grace can be resisted.
- The Catholic Church teaches that God’s plan includes each person’s free response to his grace, and the Orthodox speak of our cooperation with God as synergy.
- All these churches agree that God is not the author of sin; he permits evil and can bring good out of it, as he did at the cross.
- Trust in God’s sovereignty lets us pray “Thy will be done” and rest in the knowledge that not a sparrow falls without our Father.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Holy Bible, King James Version, via BibleGateway: Genesis 15:2; 45:8; 50:19–20; Deuteronomy 30:19; Joshua 24:15; Job 1:21; 42:2; Psalm 103:19; 115:3; 139:8; Proverbs 16:9, 33; Isaiah 46:10; Lamentations 3:37; Daniel 4:30, 35; Matthew 6:10; 10:29–30; 23:37; Acts 2:23; 4:27–28; Romans 8:28; 11:33; Ephesians 1:11; Philippians 2:12–13; 1 Timothy 6:15; James 1:13. Genesis 15:2 compared in the New International Version.
- The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), chapters 3, 5 and 9, Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
- The Five Arminian Articles (Remonstrance), 1610, in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, vol. 3, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
- John Wesley, Sermon 128, “Free Grace”, Wesley Center Online; first printing (Bristol: S. and F. Farley, 1739), Wellcome Collection catalogue.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 302–314; paragraph 600; paragraph 1730, Holy See.
- Fr. John Breck, “Salvation Is Indeed By Grace”, Orthodox Church in America.
- John of Damascus, An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book II, chapter 30, tr. S. D. F. Salmond, New Advent.
- Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Question and Answer 1, Christian Reformed Church in North America.
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