DATE TAUGHT: Thursday, November 28th, 2019
TEACHER: Thaddeus & Elder Panel
How does God’s sovereignty and human responsibility relate?
Do these two truths contradict?
We read some puzzling passages in scripture dealing with God’s sovereign orchestration and guidance of events and also passages that show us that people are truly responsible for their own actions. This leaves us with some perplexing questions at times:
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Did Pharaoh harden his own heart or did God harden Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus?
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If God sovereignly controls everything, then what is the point of human choice?
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What about human free-will – do our choices even matter?
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What is the extent of God’s sovereignty? Does He limit His sovereignty?
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Why do these doctrines even matter to me anyway?
If you’ve ever struggled with these sorts of questions, then this is the workshop for you! We will dive deep into God’s Word to unpack the glorious mystery of these truths and see how the Bible sheds light on this issue.
Workshop Video Recording
Print out the worksheet PDF (below) and use these videos to follow along with the workshop.
(TIP: You can use the gear icon to speed up/slow down the video so you can follow better)
WORKSHOP HANDOUT
This workshop was designed to be used together with the handout. You can download and print this PDF to follow along with the lesson and make notes.
TEACHER'S NOTES
These are the extended teacher’s notes from the workshop. You can download and print the PDF here. It contains additional content which was not covered in the workshop.
PRESENTATION SLIDES
These are the presentation slides from the workshop.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Below are some recommended resources to help you go deeper into the question of “What does the Bible say about Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility?”
What About Free Will?
This is a very helpful and readable modern treatment of the topic which clearly addresses many of the struggles people have with this doctrine. This book is one of the best recent treatments of how we reconcile Human free will with Divine sovereignty! If there’s ONE BOOK you get on this topic, get this one.
Systematic Theology
Chapters 16 & 32 deal specifically with these issues and give many biblical explanations as well as responses to common questions and objections.
Willing to Believe
This is a great book that looks at the history of this controversy and provides a biblical perspective of the role of the human will in salvation.
Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility
D.A. Carson brings clear, scholarly insights and finely-honed exegetical skills to this all-pervasive issue – examining the sovereignty-responsibility themes in the Old Testament, intertestamental literature and John’s gospel and concluding with a reflection on the theological implications for ministry and mission today.
The Sovereignty of God
This is a classic book – clearly written and argued from scripture – on the topic of the Sovereignty of God by A.W. Pink. It is a great concise treatment of the relevant issues.
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
This is a great book for those struggling with the question of how the doctrine of sovereignty and election pertain to evangelism.
The Potter’s Freedom
This is a good apologetic book defending the Reformed view of Divine sovereignty and the human will as a rebuttal to Norman Geisler’s book. This is a great resource to see the interactions against the opposing viewpoint.
The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination
This classic work by Loraine Boettner is now also available for FREE as an eBook. It is a very clear and compelling case for the reformed understanding of predestination with a lot of scriptural support.
The materials for our DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY & HUMAN RESPONSIBILTY WORKSHOP are offered through our website free of charge for personal use or in small groups for the edification of individuals in the body of Christ and the Church globally. Please, no editing or redistribution of this content without the expressed written permission of Hope Church Toronto West.
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