God's Sovereignty over Human Desire and Sin
God's Sovereignty and Human Desire
The concept of God's sovereignty over human desire and sin is rooted in biblical teachings that emphasize God's absolute authority and control over all aspects of creation, including human actions and decisions. According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, God's sovereignty is defined as "his absolute right to do all things according to his own good pleasure" [1]. This understanding is supported by various biblical passages, such as Daniel 4:25, 35, Romans 9:15-23, and 1 Timothy 6:15.
The biblical account of creation establishes God's sovereignty, as seen in Genesis 1:26, where God says, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth" [3]. This passage not only highlights God's creative power but also His authority over humanity.
The Psalms further reinforce the idea of God's sovereignty, with Psalm 47:8 declaring, "God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne" [4]. This reign extends to all aspects of human life, including their desires and actions. The biblical understanding of sin as "any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God" also underscores God's sovereignty, as it implies a moral governance that is both legislative and judicial [5].
The relationship between God's sovereignty and human sin is complex. On one hand, God's sovereignty is not limited by human sin; rather, it encompasses and governs sin. According to the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown commentary on 1 John 3:8, "He that committeth sin is of the devil... He is a son of the devil" [7]. This suggests that sin is not outside God's control but is instead part of the reality over which He exercises sovereignty.
The Protestant academic perspective on Psalms 58:3 notes that "all human beings are born sinners" and that the wicked indulge their sinful nature, while the godly fight against it [6]. This understanding is echoed in the commentary on Romans 1:18, which states that God's anger is a "necessary response to sin" and that both Gentiles and Jews are "equally under sin's power and cannot find favor with God by any action of their own" [8].
The sovereignty of God over human desire is also reflected in the decrees of God, which are described as "his eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be" [2]. This comprehensive sovereignty includes human decisions and actions, shaping the course of history according to God's will.
Different Christian traditions interpret the extent and nature of God's sovereignty over human desire and sin. For instance, the Baptist/Reformed tradition, as represented by John Gill's commentary on Romans 6:14, emphasizes that "sin shall not have dominion over" believers, indicating a transformative aspect of God's sovereignty that liberates believers from sin's power [11]. In contrast, the Methodist/Wesleyan tradition, as seen in Adam Clarke's commentary on Romans 5:21, highlights the reign of grace through righteousness, suggesting a more synergistic understanding of God's sovereignty and human response [9].
The Nonconformist/Puritan tradition, represented by Matthew Henry's commentary on Isaiah 45:5, underscores God's sole and sovereign dominion, asserting that He is "God alone, and there is no God besides him" [10]. This perspective emphasizes the absolute nature of God's sovereignty.
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Sovereignty — Of God, his absolute right to do all things according to his own good pleasure (Dan. 4:25, 35; Rom. 9:15-23; 1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 4:11).”
- 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”
- Genesis “God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” -- Genesis 1:26”
- Psalms “God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. -- Psalms 47:8”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Sin — Is "any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God" (1 John 3:4; Rom. 4:15), in the inward state and habit of the soul, as well as in the outward conduct of the life, whether by omission or commission (Rom. 6:12-17; 7:5-24). It is "not a mere violation of the law of our constitution, nor of the system of things, but an offence against a personal lawgiver and moral governor who vindicates his law with penalties. The soul that sins is always conscious that his sin is (1) intrinsically vile and polluting, and (2) that it justly deserves punishment,”
- Psalms (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Psalms 58:3: 58:3 All human beings are born sinners (see 51:5); however, whereas the wicked indulge their sinful nature, the godly fight against it (Rom 7:19-23; Jas 4:1-10).”
- 1 John (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 John 3:8: He that committeth sin is of the devil--in contrast to "He that doeth righteousness," Jo1 3:7. He is a son of the devil (Jo1 3:10; Joh 8:44). John does not, however, say, "born of the devil." as he does "born of God," for "the devil begets none, nor does he create any; but whoever imitates the devil becomes a child of the devil by imitating him, not by proper birth" [AUGUSTINE, Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Homily 4.10]. From the devil there is not generation, but corruption [BENGEL]. sinneth from the beginning--from the time that any beg”
- Romans (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Romans 1:18: 1:18–3:20 Paul delays exploring the theme of righteousness through faith (see 3:21) until after he first teaches about universal sinfulness. Gentiles (1:18-32) and Jews (2:1–3:8) are equally under sin’s power and cannot find favor with God by any action of their own (3:9-20). 1:18 God’s anger is not a spontaneous emotional outburst, but the holy God’s necessary response to sin. The Old Testament often depicts God’s anger (Exod 32:10-12; Num 11:1; Jer 21:3-7) and predicts a decisive outpouring of God’s wrath on human sin at the end of history. While Paul usually de”
- Romans (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Romans 5:21: That as sin hath reigned unto death - As extensively, as deeply, as universally, as sin, whether implying the act of transgression or the impure principle from which the act proceeds, or both. Hath reigned, subjected the whole earth and all its inhabitants; the whole soul, and all its powers and faculties, unto death, temporal of the body, spiritual of the soul, and eternal of both; even so, as extensively, deeply, and universally might grace reign - filling the whole earth, and pervading, purifying, and refining the whole soul: through righteousness - through this ”
- Isaiah (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Isaiah 45:5: God here asserts his sole and sovereign dominion, as that which he designed to prove and manifest to the world in all the great things he did for Cyrus and by him. Observe, I. How this doctrine is here laid down concerning the sovereignty of the great Jehovah, in two things: - 1. That he is God alone, and there is no God besides him. This is here inculcated as a fundamental truth, which, if it were firmly believed, would abolish idolatry out of the world. With what an awful, commanding, air of majesty and authority, bidding defiance, as it were, to all pretenders,”
- Romans (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Romans 6:14: For sin shall not have dominion over you,.... It has dominion over God's people in a state of unregeneracy: and after conversion it is still in them, and has great power oftentimes to hinder that which is good, and to effect that which is evil; it entices and ensnares, and brings into captivity, and seems as though it would regain its dominion, and reign again, but it shall not. This is not a precept, exhortation, or admonition, as before, though some read it as such, "let not sin have dominion over you"; nor does it express merely what ought not to be, but what canno”