Admittedly, someone who has spent their entire adult life looking to get revenge has little to teach us about grace and forgiveness, but the Spanish swordsman from The Princess Bride does have something important to teach about understanding the meaning of words. Since God is very precise in His use of language, it makes good sense for us to do the same.
God is Sovereign God’s sovereignty is clearly and absolutely established in Scripture, but it’s the meaning of that word that causes the problem. To quote Inigo, “You killed my…” No wait! (Sorry, I get a little carried away sometimes.) The word sovereign, and sovereignty, does not mean what most people think it does. Specifically, it does not mean that God is in control of everything that happens. It’s not a big surprise that folks have a difficult time understanding the meaning and implications of the word sovereign. Very few people, and fewer Christians, live under the rule of a sovereign king these days. The only current application of the term most people would be familiar with is “sovereign nation”, and even that is diluted through international treaty obligations and the United Nations. What does sovereign mean? It’s simply supreme power or authority, or, in the context of nations, the right of a nation to govern itself. A sovereign nation does not need to obey the laws of some other sovereign nation. It has the right to establish its own laws. This right is limited by treaty obligations, but absent those nations can do whatever they please, no matter how much some other nation, group or individual does not like it. This does not mean that a sovereign nation controls everything that happens in that nation. That should be pretty obvious. People violate the laws in sovereign nations all the time, and suffer the consequences defined by that nation. In practical terms, it means that a sovereign nation does not need to answer to any other nation for how it behaves / acts within its’ sovereign territory. Who does God answer to? Of course, God does not have to explain Himself or answer to anyone. “The Lord does as He pleases” according to Psalm 115:3, which is the most blatant, obvious statement of God’s sovereignty that can possibly be made. This stands in stark contrast to humanity, where everyone will have to give an account of themselves to God. (Romans 14:12). This is because God is sovereign and mankind is not. This is the idea behind Elihu’s rebuke to Job in chapter 35:6-8. By this point most readers eyes have completely glazed over and they miss the fact that one of the main points of the book is that God does not have to answer to man. God makes this abundantly clear when He addresses Job starting in chapter 38, and again most readers miss that Job answers and says he didn’t know what he was talking about throughout the entire book! (Job 42:3) Sovereignty is Simple The fact that God can do anything He wants is simple. This does not mean that He controls everything that happens. That notion even contradicts Scripture which says God has given the earth to mankind (Genesis 1:28 and Psalm 115:16). Conflating the ideas of ultimate power with ultimate control and, ultimately, responsibility is not in keeping with either Scripture itself or the concept of a loving, caring God.
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November 2019
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