Man Will Or God Will Be Done

p49 UNSEARCHABLE RICHES FOR DECEMBER, 1913 BEING THE SECOND NUMBER OF VOLUME FIVE FREE MORAL AGENCYOUR studies on the purpose of the eons and the problem of evilhave brought us face to face with the question of man's so-calledfree moral agency. To much that has been advanced in previouspapers it might be objected that, according to these views, man issimply a machine, a plaything in the, hands of God,--a being whoseactions are involuntary or mechanical, moving only as he is moved.It is argued that, unless man is absolutely free, hisresponsibility is entirely destroyed. To meet such possibleobjections, and in further elucidation of the truth, we willendeavor to ascertain from Scripture in what way man is free andresponsible and to what extent. What does the phrase free moral agency imply? An agent is onewho has power to act; a free agent is one who acts withoutconstraint; a free moral agent is one who acts as he pleases onall questions involving the qualities of right and wrong. Now, inthe ordinary acceptation of the phrase, man is not a free moralagent, he is not free to act according to his own judgment orpleasure, but all his actions are wholly under God's control. Wewill presently substantiate this position by Scripture, meanwhilewe may remark that the fact that God absolutely controls man'sactions does not destroy man's freedom nor his responsibility. Godworketh all things after the counsel of His will (+Eph.1:11); thiscould not be true if man had power to act contrary to the will ofGod and to resist it indefinitely. Furthermore, the apostle'sreiterated statement that "of him, and through him, and unto himare all things" is an utter impossibility if any creature can haveits own way and eternally persevere in it. The difficulties thatmany experience on the subject arise from failure to see thatman's freedom lies in the sphere of volition, and not in thesphere of action; his will is free; he is at liberty to choosep50 Free Moral Agencyand plan, but God controls his acts. Man can purpose and determineand choose, and according to his choosing he is judged. Hencewisdom refuses to answer the scorners who call upon her in the dayof their calamity: For that they hated knowledge, {And did not choose} the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel, They despised all my reproof: Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, And be filled with their own devices +Prov.2:29-31. We will now point out the explicitness with which this factis brought out in the Book of Proverbs. "A man's heart devisethhis way: but the Lord directeth his steps" (+Prov.16:9). "Thereare many devices in a man's heart: but the counsel of the Lord,that shall stand" (+Psa.19:21). In other words, man determines allhis wishes, but only those which the Lord designs are carried out.Another proverb expresses this fact even more forcefully: "Man'sgoings are of the Lord: how then can a man understand his way"(+Prov.20:24)? The great ones of the earth, uniting the supremeform of wealth and power, are, by virtue of circumstances, mostlikely to act as they please, and yet we read: "The king's heartis in the hand of the Lord as the watercouses: the Lord turneth itwhithersoever he will" (+Prov.21:1). The book of Esther is aninspired commentary on this text. It tells us what Ahashueruswished to do with his Jewish subjects, and what he actually did.The decrees sealed with the king's seal, which according toPersian law could not be reversed, was reversed, because contraryto God's counsel. The whole teaching of the book is summed up in asingle sentence "The lot is cast into the lap; but the wholedisposing ther is of the Lord" (+Prov.16:33). The lot is castinto the lap; man has his choice; he may plan and scheme and makepreparations as much as he please, but the whole disposing theris of the Lord. Another aspect of the same truth is presented in+Psalm 76:10: "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: theremainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." Sometimes man is allowedto carry out his devices, and sometimes not; it all depends uponwhether they coincidep51 Free Moral Agencywith God's plan or not; what He can use for His praise, He allows;what He cannot thus use, He restrains. The wise men are not alone in this testimony: the same isbelieved and proclaimed by the Hebrew prophets. In perfect harmonywith the teaching of the Proverbs is Jeremiah's declaration: "OLord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not inman that walketh to direct his steps" (+Jer.10:23). +Psa.37:23 isin the same line, though the Authorized Version has made itstranslation accord with popular belief. Thousands of sermons havebeen preached from this text, laying emphasis on the word "good.""The steps of a {good} man are ordered of the Lord." Yet the word"good" is not in the original. The passage is general, notparticular: "The steps of man are from the Lord: they (his steps)have been prepared, and his way he (God) desireth; when he fallethhe is not cast down, for Jehovah sustains his hand." Man goes theway that God desires; his steps have been prearranged and are allordained of the Lord. +Ephesians 2:10 contains teaching to thesame effect with reference to the saints: "We are his workmanship,created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore preparedthat we should walk in them." The wicked are God's sword(+Psa.17:13); the seasons of the nations, and the boundaries oftheir habitations, have been divinely predetermined (+Acts 17:26)wicked kings and nations do His mind (+Rev.17:17). If these Scriptures teach anything, they teach that man is{not} a free actor. Man may choose, devise, imagine, and he willbe judged accordingly;--filled with his own devices--but his way,his outward acts are entirely under God's control. Such is theBible doctrine of free will. We will now consider someillustrations of it. The instances related in +John 7:25-30 and John 8:12-20 arevery remarkable. The chief priests and Pharisees sought to killour Lord, and sent officers to take Him. They were fullydetermined to destroy Him, and were just as much murderers inGod's sight as if they had actually committed the deed; but Godwould not allow the rulers to carry out their wicked purpose. Whynot? "No man laid his hand on Him, because His hour has not come."They were seeking to precipitate His death, hence werep52 Free Moral Agencyrestrained from accomplishing their intention. Later on, when theappointed time arrived, the rulers were allowed to carry intoeffect their murderous intents, in order that Christ might giveHimself up according to the will of God. There might be some reasonable question as to whether thecase of our Lord was not altogether exceptional. We shall find,however, that the case of our Lord is by no means a solitary one.Forty Jews banded together by a great curse that they wouldneither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. That very nightthe Lord appeared to Paul, assuring him that he would bear witnessin Rome. In the sequel of the narrative we learn how Paul isdelivered and arrives at Rome. But why was not Paul delivered fromthe hand of Nero? Let the apostle answer this question. "I am now{ready} to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand; Ihave fought a good fight; I have kept the faith; I have {finished}my course; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown ofrighteousness" (+2 Tim.4:6,7). The wrath of the forty Jews isrestrained, because Paul's mission was not finished; the wrath ofCaesar is allowed to vent itself, because Paul's course wasfinished. In like manner, Peter is delivered from the hand ofHerod, but is delivered into the hand of his enemies yearsafterwards, and the reason is that while Herod's attempt toterminate Peter's life was premature, the attempt made afterwardsby others coincided with God's appointed time. We have been led by Scripture to the conclusion that man'sfree will lies in the sphere of volition, and not in the sphere ofaction. To state it differently, man is unrestrained in the realmof will, but is restrained in the realm of action. Perhaps itmight be said that, if man's will is free, even though his actsare controlled by God, may he not remain eternally refractory,incorrigible, defiant and unyielding? Still others might say that,if the ultimate subjection of all things to God is spiritual andinternal, rather than merely external, the realm of man's will isalso invaded, and man has no freedom at all. These objections are the consequence of one-sided thinkingwhich either ignores or rules out the determining factors. In thefirst place, we must take into account thep53 Free Moral Agencyeternal fitness of things. In creating God had in mind a definiteend as well as a specific immediate purpose for all creatures. Manwill ultimately choose the right, because he was made for theright, and to suppose that he will remain endlessly wrong, is tosuppose that God's creation will fail of realizing the endintended, a position which involves the failure of the Creatorrather than of the creature. Man was created for fellowship withGod, so constituted as to enter the bosom of His affections, andhe will realize the purpose for which he was designed as surely asGod's word never fails. Man will be brought to choose the right,not by pressure of omnipotence, but because he will be led to seethat it is the right, and that the right is the best for him. In the second place, while man's will is free, he is notindependent; but, as is often said in common parlance, he is thecreature of circumstances. Out of the complex skein of influencesand circumstances which surround us arises that complicity ofmotives, almost endless in its variety, moulding the human will,which throws itself on the side of the considerations which appealmost powerfully to our interests. Take the following instancerelated in the "Peasant Saint."* Not very far from the villagewhere the saint gained his livelihood as wood-chopper, a widowwith an infant child consecrated herself to a life of austereasceticism. She built for herself a hovel in the forest, vowingnever to leave her humble abode where she would spend her life inprayer and reading the lives of the saints. Several years passedby. One winter the weather was unusually severe, and the womansuffered severely from the intense cold. One very cold morning thewood-chopper chanced to pass by, and noticing the hovel knocked atthe door, asking permission to come in and warm himself. A feeblevoice bid him enter. On opening the door the wood-chopper saw thewoman, with the child clasped in her arms, sinking into a lethargyhe knew would be fatal. He tried to persuade her to accompany himto the village, but the woman would not listen to his arguments,pleading that she had taken a vow never to leave her abode. Whilearguing"A"A"A"A"A"A"A"A"A * "{The Peasant Saint}." {The life story of Sergius ofRadonej, Moscow, 1912}.p54 Free Moral Agencywith the woman a thought flashed to his mind, and he quickly putit into execution. Snatching the child away from the mother, hestarted to run in the direction of the nearest village; the motherwas roused by the apparent danger to her child, sprang to her feetand started in pursuit; nerved with superhuman strength to fightfor her offspring, she followed on; the wood-chopper kept up untilhe reached a homestead; there he restored the child to its motherand left her in care of the farmer's family. The woman was warmedup by the exertion, and her life was saved. Seizing upon the resources at his command, the wood-chopperpresented to that mother a powerful motive which, dwarfing allother considerations, induced her to do what was best for herselfand her child. The woman was spurred on to the exertion that savedher life, by the presentation of an all powerful motive thatcontrolled her will. God has command of infinite resources, and isable to present to each and all motives powerful enough toinfluence the will in the right direction. He will be able topresent motives for the right which will infinitely outweigh anythat could be presented for the wrong. The case of Paul is a perfect example of what we haveendeavored to set forth in the foregoing considerations. There isa tendency to regard his case as entirely exceptional. But thevery opposite of this is the fact. He is a pattern of them thatshould believe thereafter (+1 Tim.1:16). A pattern, not in thesense that every circumstance attending his call would bereproduced in all subsequent conversions, but in the sense of itsembodying the essential principles of God's dealings in absolutegrace. Between "a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious" and the"grace abounding exceedingly with faith and love which is inChrist Jesus," is a vast moral distance, and yet Paul traversedthat distance in one instant. He relates his experience in thethird chapter of Philippians. He first describes His formerstanding "in the flesh" (vss.5,6), and then contrasts it with hispresent standing "in Christ" (vss.8-14). The seventh verse isretrospective: the apostle transports himself in thought and tellsus of the tremendous change that was wrought in him at thecritical moment of hisp55 Free Moral Agencylife. "Howbeit the things that were gain to me, these have Icounted loss for Christ. Those things which were gain tome"--such was his estimate of the things pertaining to hisstanding in the flesh; he had "confidence" in them, he esteemedthem "gain}; they loomed up before him as an ideal, a motiveworthy of the highest effort, devotion, sacrifice, a motive strongenough to master his whole being, to become the driving force, theruling passion of his life. "These counted I {loss} for Christ."Does not this account for the changed course of his life? Hecaught a glimpse of something immeasurably higher and better; hebeheld his supposed gains fade one after another in the gloriouslight that shone from heaven; they melted away like dross beforethe glory of the Risen One, and Paul cast them aside as refuse.The motives which God was able to present for Christ wereinfinitely more powerful than the reasons for fighting against Hiscause. The moment he was made to see the true state of the case,he choose the right way. All that was needed to veer him in theright direction was to open his eyes to see the truth, and empowerhim to embrace it. "Yea verily," continues the apostle, "I {count}all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge ofChrist Jesus my Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things,and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ." So powerfulwere the motives presented to him, that they became theinspiration of his life and the stimulus of his service. Christwas the all sufficient motive which wrought the change in Paul.Surely such motive cannot fail in the case of any one, if onlythey can be made to realize it as did Paul. Surely every son anddaughter of Adam would choose life rather than death, when theyfully understand the circumstances of the case. The motives which influenced self-righteous Saul to cry out,"Lord, what wilt thou have me do?" are the very motives which, atthe consummation, God will present to the intelligences in theiron clutches of death. The apostle to the Gentiles exemplifiesGod's dealings in pure grace, apart from all else. The firstrecipient of unmixed grace portrays its crowning achievement to bewitnessed at the conclusion of the eons. Paul views theconsummation in the light of his own experience (+Phil.2:9-11).Was it notp56 Free Moral Agencythe sight of the Risen One that elicited the confession "Lord!"from the lips of Saul of Tarsus? The vision of the Risen One, asHe is unveiled to the universe by the Father, brings all createdintelligences under the spell of motives that will swing them asif by magic to the path of filial submission, for it is in thename of Jesus that every knee bows, and every tongue confessesJesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father." As now inhis people, so then in all creatures, He works both to will and todo of His good pleasure; He touches first the spring of action, byfashioning the will in accordance with His, and then the stream ofaction, by empowering the will to work His good pleasure. The exponents of endless torments, in their devotion totradition, are constrained to invest this marvelous Scripture witha meaning that is trite and commonplace. They hold that the finalsubjection of all things is the product of power divorced fromlove. Having exhausted the; resources of grace in fruitlessefforts to conquer rebellious wills, God is forced to play therole of a policeman and club His opponents into submission.According to this, the history of the eons concludes not with amanifestation of God in all His excellencies, where His manifoldperfections blend in the grand display of love perfected, but withan exhibition of the failure of love, which, defeated in itsefforts, recedes to the background and makes room for vengeance.But the fact is, the apostle here presents the ultimate subjectionof all things as the ripe fruitage of the ravishing, self-emptyingact of the Son's obedience unto death, just as in the Colossianletter the reconciliation of all things in heaven and on earth isthe result of peace made through the blood of His cross(+Col.1:20). Power--unless it be the power of grace--is not asmuch as hinted at. The confession of Jesus as Lord is not wrungfrom the lips of created intelligences by torture; it is thespontaneous fruit of hearts melted and won by love, as was theconfession of Saul of Tarsus. Without in the least invading theirfreedom, as above explained, God will be able to bring all meninto harmony with Himself, so that at last every knee shall bowand every tongue shall give praise to God (+Rom.14:11).A.E. Knock