BTW, how do you define 'ordain'? I find it means to consecrate or set aside.
I think it is good here to address this difference of “decreeing” something to take place and “ordaining” how it will take place. In my use of the words I’d like to make a subtle but vital distinction. I doubt that I always use the two words in this way all of the time. But I do try to make a distinction between the two “concepts”. I’m not even sure that this is the absolutely accepted way to use the two words. But this is my thinking on the matter for what it’s worth.
Since it is God’s use of and involvement in evil that we are talking about – I’ll choose the biggest act of evil in history as an example - the crucifixion of Jesus. We have a lot of data to draw on concerning that particular act of violence, including God’s purpose for it. If we took some more mundane evil act like the mugging of a father in downtown N.Y. we would have less to draw on. An act like that could leave a widow and an orphan behind. Both are evil thuggish sins. It’s impossible to know God’s purpose for the one because we aren’t told. But I maintain that they each have their purpose in the scheme of things even if one is obviously more cosmic in scope.
Everyone would agree that God
decreed that Christ would die for the sins of the world. Apparently from conversations here, not all would agree that every individual evil act was
ordained of God. There have even been some who would accuse one who says that the acts themselves were chosen and orchestrated (which would be in line with my use of the word ordained) by God are guilty of “blasphemy.”
It is in areas like this that the difference in the two words, as I use them, can become a controversy.
Returning to our example of Christ’s crucifixion – God is very clear to say that it was the Fathers good pleasure to “crush” the Son. I could list many examples of His using such language that says very clearly that He is the one doing things which involve evil and sin. But, sticking with this one example, we see that God takes full credit for everything involved in this evil act.
Like most, I am also careful to say that God is holy and does not “do” evil. I could and do say it over and over and over again - so as to not be misunderstood. But looking at Scripture I see that God doesn’t always go out of His way to reiterate what He has already said. God is all good. He cannot sin. He tells us that clearly and then moves on and leaves it for us to believe it or not.
But He also tells us clearly that He is in total control of everything that happens including sinful acts. In my use of the word, He “ordains” each and every act involved in bringing a “decree” to past. He expects us to believe that as well as the fact that He is all good. If we cannot reconcile the resulting paradox, we are to believe both and trust Him. I find that He does give us enough data to reconcile the two situations if we are of a mind to. But He will not allow us to understand the paradox if we insist on forming ourselves into two opposing camps and choosing which truth we will believe and which we will not believe.
“To the one who has, more will be given. To the one who does not have even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.”
Reject one of the truths and you will find yourself expressing a theology that has fallen into a ditch on one side of an area of inquiry. Some of you may remember being told by some here in the forum that they did not find a single paradox or mystery in Scripture. I’m sure they were sincere. IMO they did not find them simply because they would not allow them to exist. They simply chose the side of the paradox that they felt most comfortable defending and rejected the other.
Once the mystery of a paradox is acknowledged - without rejecting something the Scripture clearly says on one side of the issue – the Lord will lead you into further truth. If you will not accept both – you will find yourself in error. Perhaps no one will be able to refute you in your beliefs. But that doesn’t mean you are right. You may not be corrected until the Judgment Seat of Christ. But who wants to wait until then? Better to not teach at all then to teach something that you will suffer loss for in the end (even if you are able to garner numbers of supporters in this life for your side of things).
Returning to the example – I say that God not only decreed the death of Christ. I say that He ordained or finely orchestrated it so as to play out exactly as He intended as well. I see all of history as something like a divine “butterfly effect”. A butterfly flaps it’s wings in Mongolia and there is a hurricane in Florida. Maybe the connections can’t be seen by us. But the connections, however small, can not only be seen but are planned and factored in by an all powerful God.
For God’s purpose to be fulfilled in the crucifixion, He had to plan an almost infinite sequence of events to happen in such a way that there could be no doubt as to the outcome. They included the movements of nations in history. They included the development of technology to invent nails. They included the sinful invention of the unspeakable cruelty of crucifixion and it’s practiced development. They included the ordaining of all events that developed the warped personalities of a Pilot or a Judas.
We could go on and on
. Everything in the history of the world up until that time played some very small part in what transpired at Calvary on the day of our redemption. That “everything” included billions upon billions of sinful acts by men over the centuries to bring everything into alignment. Nothing was left to chance as I see it.
God did not simply move and countermove with the sins of man and Satan through the centuries like some divine chess player. On the contrary – even the sins of man and Satan (for which they will be rightly judged) were “ordained” in minute detail by an all powerful God.
The same is true for every act of holiness and sinfulness and the movements of every atom since the beginning of time. They all play their part in the scheme of things.
Because evil is included -some find the resulting paradox from believing in such complete sovereignty too much to bear. As a result, they simply choose a side of the equation which “saves” God from being accused of evil. In so choosing a side – they fall into a theological ditch. They will never extricate themselves until they believe all that God says and leave any “saving” of God’s reputation to Himself.
Being willing to trust God in spite of appearances is equated with faith by Him IMO. Without faith you cannot please Him.
The Westminster Confession says quite correctly IMO:
“The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in his providence, that it extends itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men; and that not by a bare permission, but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering, and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to his own holy ends; yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceeds only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.”
That is the great paradox we find in Scripture.
I don’t know anyone who has stated it better than the WCF.
Only when people embrace this concept (which I believe is easily supported by Scripture) – will God reward such faith with further insights as to why He does what He does IMO.
Anyway – that’s what I mean by saying that God “ordains”
everything that happens.
I can and will offer my thoughts as to
why He has ordained the exhibition of the evil we are experiencing in the world. I’m not sure anyone will agree or even understand as long as they remain in a ditch on one side of the road. But I’ll try if we continue.
