Embracing Theological Mystery
Meditating on the mystery of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility
Much of what God has revealed to us in the Bible is clear to understand (theologically known as the perspicuity of Scripture). Scripture is knowable and (for the most part) easy to comprehend. We don’t need to be scholars to understand most doctrines the Bible teaches. Whether that be salvation by grace through faith (e.g. Ephesians 2:8-9) substitutionary atonement (e.g. 2 Corinthians 5:21), or many more, there are myriad doctrines that are abundantly clear.
But then you come to other doctrines of the faith that, though we can understand them on paper and believe them in our hearts, wrapping our minds around how it plays out is the issue due to our finitude. It is not a matter of contradiction, but of mystery. These are doctrines that are wholly true and beautiful and holy, but we cannot fully comprehend them. Nor should we be able to. We just trust the Lord.
There are a few theological mysteries in Scripture, but perhaps none great than that of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility and creaturely “freedom.”1 The Bible is replete with language affirming the sovereignty of God over all things. Here are just a few: Is. 46:10, Prov. 16:9, 16:33, and 19:21.
It’s evident from the Bible that God is in absolute control. Nothing happens apart from His sovereign will—not feast, not famine, not catastrophe, not bliss. Whatever takes place in life happens only because the sovereign God of the cosmos ordained it to be so, all the way down to salvation. We see God’s sovereignty in salvation in passages such as Ephesians 1:4-5, Romans 8:29-30, Acts 13:48 or Romans 9.
And yet, it’s also undeniably true that humans have the responsibility to repent and believe in the gospel. Here are a few verses emphasizing man’s responsibility: John 3:16, 3:36, 8:24, Acts 16:31, and Rom. 10:9-10.
So, what is it? Did God ordain all things—even down to the salvation of individuals—or do humans have the freedom to choose based on desire? Who’s choice is it, really? According to Scripture, the answer is both. Again, this is not a problem of contradiction, but of theological mystery. The best way to describe it is by reading what Jesus says in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you” (emphasis mine).
This verse gives us both sides, per se, of the coin: God’s sovereignty in salvation and man’s responsibility. Do people make the active, genuine to choose Jesus? Unequivocally yes. But do people only choose Jesus because God chose them first before the foundation of the world? Unequivocally yes. “From the human perspective, we become His sheep by believing,” said Jonny Ardavanis in a recent sermon. “But from the divine perspective, we believe because we are His sheep.”
We cannot comprehend how God orchestrates these two aspects to work together in cohesion. But He does—because He’s God.2 It doesn’t have to fully compute in our minds; we must simply trust the Lord and know that He’s good and wise and holy and, most importantly, sovereign.3
Freedom is in quotation marks, of course, because human beings are not born free, but under the dominion and enslaved to sin. We have freedom insofar as we make everyday choices, and the ability to choose based on our desires. But we cannot (and do not want to) freely choose to follow Jesus. God must change our hearts.
We humans have the responsibility to make the active choice to repent of our sins and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Bible makes clear that can’t — and won’t! — happen apart from God’s sovereign election. It’s (ultimately) His choice . . . and yours, too.
I would encourage anyone to explore this topic more by reading the transcript of a talk between Ligonier Ministries Teaching Fellows.