Bible Question (short): Are Sovereignty and Free Will Exclusive? |
Question (full): Hey Guys! Can I muddy the waters? I've already stated elsewhere that I know nothing of Calvinism and Armenism (or however it is spelled), but here's what I think. Of course, my opinion is always subject to 1) being wrong 2) being right 3) being corrected by those who know more than I and 4) being ridiculed by those who know it all. :) Here goes: I hardly know anything of the Sovereignty/Free Will debate. But I do believe that God is both sovereign and that we have free will. I don't think that they are mutually exclusive. I think that Philippians 2:6-8 gives us a small glimpse of that. Here we see that although Jesus was completely God, He chose to set aside His divine right (sovereignty, complete control), as God, and become a servant (a man with free will). He was, I believe, completely God and completely human. He had both God's Spirit in Him and a human spirit. He had a soul. And He had a will that He chose to submitted to His Father's will (not only in the garden but throughout His earthly ministry. He did only what His Father told Him to do). I know this may sound crazy (not my first time), but I think that God, being sovereign, can chose to set aside exercising that sovereignty in order to permit human chosing. What do you think? How far off the bubble am I? In Christ, Bill Mc |