God Leaving Wicked to Their Own Ways
The concept of God leaving the wicked to their own ways describes a divine act of judgment where individuals or groups are permitted to follow their sinful inclinations, experiencing the natural and judicial consequences of their choices. This is distinct from God's active intervention to prevent sin or to call to repentance.
Scripture presents instances where God appears to withdraw his restraining hand. Hosea 4:17 states, "Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone" [4]. This verse suggests a divine decision to cease intervention, allowing Ephraim to persist in idolatry. Similarly, Psalm 141:10 expresses a desire for the wicked to "fall into their own nets" [2], implying a self-inflicted consequence of their actions. Matthew Henry, a Nonconformist commentator, interprets Proverbs 12:13 as illustrating how the wicked "entangle themselves in trouble by their folly, when God in justice leaves them to themselves" [5]. Their own words and actions become snares, leading to public or private repercussions [5].
The Old Testament also contains passages where God "gives over" or "lets pollute" those who reject him. Ezekiel 20:25-26 speaks of God giving Israel "worthless decrees and regulations" and letting them "pollute themselves" [10, 11]. Protestant academic commentary suggests this refers to God allowing Israel to exercise their depravity through pagan rituals, leading to "terrible consequences" [10, 11]. Adam Clarke, a Methodist commentator, interprets Ezekiel 20:39 ("Go ye, serve ye every one his idols") as God permitting them to "take their own way, serve their gods, and follow the maxims and rites of that abominable worship" [6]. This is understood as a form of judgment where God allows people to experience the full extent of their chosen path [6].
This divine action is not seen as God being weak or neglectful. Athanasius of Alexandria argued that it would be "most monstrous for the work to be ruined, and that before the eyes of the Maker" if God simply allowed his creation to be destroyed without cause [8]. Instead, the "leaving" is understood as a judicial act. Augustine of Hippo, in City of God, clarifies that wickedness is a "flaw or vice" contrary to nature, originating not in the Creator but in the will [9]. Therefore, departure from God is a vice because it damages the nature that was not previously vitiated [9].
The concept also relates to the idea of a "special call" that God sometimes extends to believers, but also to those whom he "enlightens only for a time, and whom afterwards, in just punishment for their ingratitude, he abandons and smites with greater blindness" [12]. John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, describes this as a consequence for those who reject the initial light they received [12].
While God may leave the wicked to their ways, the biblical narrative also emphasizes the possibility of repentance and God's readiness to forgive. Isaiah 55:7 urges, "Let the wicked forsake his wayes, and the vnrighteous his owne imaginations, and returne vnto the Lord, and he wil haue mercy vpon him: and to our God, for hee is very ready to forgiue" [1]. John Gill, a Baptist-Reformed commentator, notes that the "wicked" are "restless, troublesome, and ungodly," but that efficacious grace is necessary to turn them from their chosen path [7]. This highlights a tension between divine judgment and the ongoing offer of mercy for those who turn from their wickedness. The Lord's willingness to "let himself be turned from his purpose of sending punishment" on his people, as seen in Exodus 32:14, further underscores the possibility of divine clemency in response to a change of heart [3].
Sources
- Isaiah “Isaiah 55:7 (Geneva1599) — Let the wicked forsake his wayes, and the vnrighteous his owne imaginations, and returne vnto the Lord, and he wil haue mercy vpon him: and to our God, for hee is very ready to forgiue.”
- Psalms “Psalms 141:10 (BSB) — Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.”
- Exodus “Exodus 32:14 (BBE) — So the Lord let himself be turned from his purpose of sending punishment on his people.”
- Hosea “Hosea 4:17 (LITV) — Ephraim is joined to idols. Let him alone.”
- Proverbs (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Proverbs 12:13: See here, 1. The wicked entangling themselves in trouble by their folly, when God in justice leaves them to themselves. They are often snared by the transgression of their lips and their throats are cut with their own tongues. By speaking evil of dignities they expose themselves to public justice; by giving ill language they become obnoxious to private resentments, are sued for defamation, and actions on the case for words are brought against them. Many a man has paid dearly in this world for the transgression of his lips, and has felt the lash on his back for ”
- Ezekiel (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 20:39: Go ye, serve ye every one his idols - Thus, God gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they could not live, by thus permitting them to take their own way, serve their gods, and follow the maxims and rites of that abominable worship.”
- Isaiah (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Isaiah 55:7: Let the wicked forsake his way,.... His evil way, as the Targum paraphrases it, his wicked course of life; and which is his own way, of his own choosing, and in which he delights, and a very dangerous one it is; and yet he is bent upon it, and nothing can turn him from it but efficacious grace; nor will he ever forsake it till he sees the evil, danger, and loathsomeness of it; and when he does forsake it, it is so as not to make sin the course of his life, though he does not and cannot live without sin. The word for "wicked" signifies restless, troublesome, and ungodl”
- CCEL (Patristic) “Athanasius of Alexandria, Select Works and Letters, section 103: For better were they not made, than once made, left to neglect and ruin. 8. For neglect reveals weakness, and not goodness on God’s part—if, that is, He allows His own work to be ruined when once He had made it—more so than if He had never made man at all. 9. For if He had not made them, none could impute weakness; but once He had made them, and created them out of nothing, it were most monstrous for the work to be ruined, and that before the eyes of the Maker. 10. It was, then, out of the question to leave men to the current of ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 17 .--THAT THE FLAW OF WICKEDNESS IS NOT NATURE, BUT CONTRARY TO NATURE, AND HAS ITS ORIGIN, NOT IN THE CREATOR, BUT IN THE WILL.: It is with reference to the nature, then, and not to the wickedness of the devil, that we are to understand these words, "This is the beginning of God's handiwork; "(3) for, without doubt, wickedness can be a flaw or vice(4) only where the nature previously was not vitiated. Vice, too, is so contrary to nature, that it cannot but damage it. And therefore departure from God would be no vice, unless in ”
- Ezek (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Ezek 20:25: 20:25-26 I gave them over to worthless decrees and regulations . . . I let them pollute themselves: The Lord allowed the people of Israel to exercise their depravity in the complex and corrupting rituals of paganism and to suffer all of its terrible consequences (see Rom 1:18-25).”
- Ezekiel (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Ezekiel 20:25: 20:25-26 I gave them over to worthless decrees and regulations . . . I let them pollute themselves: The Lord allowed the people of Israel to exercise their depravity in the complex and corrupting rituals of paganism and to suffer all of its terrible consequences (see Rom 1:18-25).”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 79: all men alike, even those for whom he designs the call to be a savor of death, and the ground of a severer condemnation. Besides this there is a special call which, for the most part, God bestows on believers only, when by the internal illumination of the Spirit he causes the word preached to take deep root in their hearts. Sometimes, however, he communicates it also to those whom he enlightens only for a time, and whom afterwards, in just punishment for their ingratitude, he abandons and smites with greater blindness. Now, our Lor”