All according to plan...
A bite-sized lesson in doctrine: 1 Concept, 2 Definitions, 3 Passages...
Welcome back to Theology Thursday!
Here is your bite-sized lesson in orthodox biblical doctrine in 3 simple steps:
ONE concept explained
TWO concise definitions that must be kept distinct
THREE Scripture passages to meditate on
Concept: God’s Decree
The Triune God is the self-sufficient One, a perfectly pure spirit, who is infinite in being and perfection, and who is love itself. Thus, God is revealed as the ultimate reality and the one who truly has free will; He is “most free.” God freely decides to create and redeem a people for Himself, bringing them into the union and fellowship that God enjoyed even before creation. It's as if the perfect love shared between the three Persons of the Trinity brimmed over, resulting in a design for creation and human history. This is what theologians have called God’s “decree.” A decree speaks of a command or an official order given by an authority. So God’s decree refers to His authoritative, determined plan for all creation and human history, which was decided before time began. The Bible is nothing less than the story of the decree of a King and His kingdom, which extends over all things. It is aimed at His own glory, it is eternal, wise, universal, and infallible; all things come about exactly as God planned it. Now we know that nothing comes about randomly or by mere chance. Nothing is purposeless. He knows what He is doing simply because He has already planned what He will do. Your story is situated within a grander story that transcends your every desire, action, or pursuit. The God who cannot lie and always does what is just is the cosmic Author of your small existence, and few things should comfort us more deeply.
Definitions/Distinctions:
Necessity of Infallibility: This refers to God’s decree as it unfolds. Though it was planned before creation in eternity past, it comes about infallibly in time and space. In other words, all things, including the actions of free creatures, come about exactly as God planned. It can be nothing else; the blueprint cannot be modified.
Necessity of Coersion or Coaction: Not to be conflated with the definition above, this refers to forcing someone to do something against their will, or to act for someone. Just because God’s will always happens exactly as He planned does not mean His decree excludes the free actions of His creatures. Some things in God’s decree come about by a necessity of nature (the earth cannot freely decide to stop revolving around the sun), and some things come about contingently or freely (such as man’s actions).
Passages:
"I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’”
Isaiah 46:9–10
“The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”
Proverbs 16:9
"His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’”
Daniel 4:34-35
So helpful to continue reading about free will in your other sources like this as I read your book