The Sovereignty of God and Human Free Will
Part I
Reverence and Humility Before God Almighty
In seeking to understand God’s sovereignty and human free will, the entire counsel of Scripture needs to be studied. We must never hold so fast to a specific viewpoint or doctrine that we fail to honestly consider all that God’s Word reveals.
Without revelation from the Holy Spirit, it is beyond the ability of the mortal mind to fully grasp how the sovereignty of God and human free will function together.
Romans 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counsellor?”
“Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
1 Corinthians 2:11-12
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
We are called to trust God.
Psalm 37:5
Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Isaiah 26:3-4
You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
Trust in the Lord forever,
For in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength.
God is omniscient; His understanding is infinite.
Psalm 139:1-4, 15-16
O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
…
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
Psalm 147:5
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power;
His understanding is infinite.
Colossians 2:2-3
that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Hebrews 4:13
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
1 John 3:20
For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
God is omnipotent.
Isaiah 46:9-10
Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’
Matthew 19:26
But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Colossians 1:16-17
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Revelation 19:6
And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!
God is omnipresent.
Psalm 139:7-10
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
Proverbs 15:3
The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
Keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Jeremiah 23:23-24
“Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord,
“And not a God afar off?
Can anyone hide himself in secret places,
So I shall not see him?” says the Lord;
“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord.
God is good.
Psalm 100:5
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.
Psalm 145:8-9
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
Slow to anger and great in mercy.
The Lord is good to all,
And His tender mercies are over all His works.
James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
1 John 1:5
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
God is just.
Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, His work is perfect;
For all His ways are justice,
A God of truth and without injustice;
Righteous and upright is He.
Psalm 89:14
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Mercy and truth go before Your face.
God is faithful.
Psalm 119:90
Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
You established the earth, and it abides.
Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
God is love.
1 John 4:7-8
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4:16
And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Jesus showed us the true nature, character, and will of God. He showed us the Father perfectly. The fullness of God dwelt in Jesus.
Colossians 1:19
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
Hebrews 1:3
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, …
John 14:9
… He who has seen Me has seen the Father; …
John 5:19
Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
John 14:10
Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
All things were created through Jesus Christ and exist for Him. He is before all things, and He continually upholds and sustains everything by the word of His power. In Him we live, move, and have our being.
John 1:3
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
Acts 17:28
for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
1 Corinthians 8:6
yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
Colossians 1:16-17
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
Hebrews 1:2-3
has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
God works all things according to the counsel of His perfect will.
Romans 8:29-30
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
John 6:64-65
But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
Acts 2:47
praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.
Ephesians 1:4-5, 11
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
…
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
Psalm 115:3
But our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases.
Proverbs 16:4
The Lord has made all for Himself,
Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom.
Lamentations 3:37-38
Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass,
When the Lord has not commanded it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
That woe and well-being proceed?
Daniel 4:35
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing;
He does according to His will in the army of heaven
And among the inhabitants of the earth.
No one can restrain His hand
Or say to Him, “What have You done?”
Acts 4:27-28
“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.
1 Peter 3:17
For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
Romans 9:10-24
And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour?
What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
God desires that we truly know Him and live in relationship with Him.
Genesis 3:8-9
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
* The Greek word behind “everlasting” in John 3:16 is αἰώνιος (aiōnios). It is the same word translated as “eternal” in John 17:3.
John 17:3
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
* The Greek word behind “know” in John 17:3 is γινώσκω (ginōskō). In this context, to “know” God means to enter into a living, personal, and intimate relationship with Him.
Galatians 4:6-7
And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
God calls us to submit our lives to Him and abide in Him.
Jeremiah 10:23
O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
John 15:4-8
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Romans 6:13
And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
James 4:7
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Within God’s sovereignty, we have been granted the ability to choose whether to accept or reject Him. We have the freedom to embrace God’s will for our life or to resist it.
Deuteronomy 30:19
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
Job 1:9-11
So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
Psalm 78:41
Yes, again and again they tempted God,
And limited the Holy One of Israel.
Psalm 81:11-12
“But My people would not heed My voice,
And Israel would have none of Me.
So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart,
To walk in their own counsels.
Hosea 8:4
“They set up kings, but not by Me;
They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.
…
Matthew 11:28
Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 23:37
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!
Acts 7:51
“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.
2 Thessalonians 1:11
Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power,
2 Peter 1:10-11
Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
It is God’s will and desire that every person come to repentance and receive salvation.
Ezekiel 18:23, 32
Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
…
For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and live!”
Matthew 18:14
Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
1 Timothy 2:3-4
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Titus 2:11
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
God’s will and desire for all to be saved is not fulfilled in everyone. Not all obtain salvation.
Matthew 7:13-14
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Luke 13:23-24
Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”
And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
Part I Summary:
God Almighty is Lord over all. He knows the end from the beginning, and His perfect foreknowledge encompasses every detail of every life. Nothing surprises Him; He understands every thought, decision, and outcome. In His infinite wisdom and power, He works all things according to the counsel of His will, and His purposes cannot fail.
Yet, within His sovereignty, God has granted mankind free will and the ability to choose either to accept Him or to reject Him. Scripture reveals that God holds us accountable, and our choices truly matter and carry real consequences. Though we may not always fulfil His perfect will for our lives, His plans remain unshaken.
We may not fully comprehend how God’s sovereignty and human free will work together, but we are called to trust Him. His Word assures us that He is perfectly good, just, and loving, and that His ways are higher than ours. As we submit to Him and abide in Him, we can rest in the peace of knowing that His plans and intentions for us are shaped by His awesome love.
