God Decreed The Fall, but not Evil

Did God decree the fall of man? Did God decree evil? Let me answer this question by first quoting Jonathan Edwards:

That we should say that God has decreed every action of men, yea, every action that is sinful, and every circumstance of those actions; that he predetermines that they shall be in every respect as they afterwards are; that He determines that there shall be such actions, and just so sinful as they are; and yet that God does not decree the actions that are sinful, as sin, but decrees them as good, is really consistent. For we do not mean be decreeing an action as sinful, the same as decreeing an action so that it shall be sinful; but be decreeing an action as sinful, I mean decreeing it for the sake of the sinfulness of the action. God decrees that they shall be as sinful, for the sake of the good that he causes to arise from the sinfulness thereof; whereas man decrees them for the sake of the evil that is in them.

Evil is evil, and yet it may be a good thing that evil should be in the world. There is certainly a difference between an action itself existing, and its being an evil thing that ever it came into existence. For instance, it might be an evil thing to crucify Christ, but yet it was a good thing that the crucifying of Christ came to pass. Man meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

Thus, my position is the same as Jonathan Edwards. I believe that God does not decree evil; He decrees good; but He has often decreed an action as sinful as it is for the sake of good that is also present it its consequences. The evil action is the responsibility of the sinful moral agent who committed it, but that moral agent was not outside or superior to the sovereignty of God who decreed the action of the moral agent for the sake of good.

All of this is based on the perfect foreknowledge of God. It is true that God does not decree anything upon foresight of any thing in the creature. It is also true that God is not decreeing decrees today in response to the actions of creatures as Open Theology proposes. But Edwards rightly notes, “God decrees many things that He would not have decreed, if He had not foreknown and fore-determined such and such other things. We mean that God decrees all things harmoniously and in excellent order, one thing harmonizes with another, and there is such a relation between all the decrees as makes the most excellent order.” Edwards further adds, “But this I say, it is improper to make one decree a condition of another, as to make the other a condition of that; but there is a harmony between the both.” In short, Edwards is clearly explaining that all of God’s decrees are based on the foreknowledge of all of God’s other decrees which are in perfect harmony with each other. Thus, when God makes a decree that involves an action as sinful, God has also decreed the good consequences of that action though in its proximity it was evil. Thus at the end of it all, through good and evil, God will say perfect – just like I decreed it!!

So someone asks, “Did God decree the fall of man?” The short answer – “Yes, in the fact that God decreed the good that will come out of the fall of man and thus removed constraining grace, letting man do as he desired in his own heart apart from God’s constraints – which was to sin.”

I highly recommend Jonathan Edwards’ “Miscellaneous Remarks Concerning the Divine Decrees” found in the second volume of The Works of Jonathan Edwards. BTW, Edwards also gives a terrific explanation of the distinction between the will of God and the commands of God.

One final extremely important quote I would like to finish this post with is one from W. Cooper who edited Jonathan Edwards’ commentaries:

Since all the disputes between Calvinists and Arminians are founded in the differing notions about the divine decrees and free will, and since these differing notions are thoroughly removed by a right knowledge of the origin of moral evil, which is capable of demonstrative evidence – we may infer, that in proportion as Calvinists and Arminians are capable of estimating absolute demonstration, their disagreement will be annihilated – and that nothing but ignorance and prejudice can prevent their harmonious coalition. Let the Calvinist assure his opponent, that God decrees only good, whether natural, moral, or evil; but in no way whatsoever decrees or any way will moral evil. Let him further state that the origin or cause of moral evil is in the creature in such a manner as to be neither created or willed by the Author of our being, but yet is inseparably related to our existence. And let the Calvinist further insist, that God could, if He saw it best, prevent by His grace the commission of sin in every possible instance, while he leaves the human will perfectly free – and that in Him alone we should look for assistance to enable us to avoid sin, as well as for pardon and acceptance. Firmly persuaded of these things, on the clearest ground of evidence, let the Calvinist invite his opponent to give him the right hand of fellowship – if, after all, the Arminian draws back, he must, in the view of every intelligent mind, appear either profoundly ignorant or most unreasonably bigoted. In this case, though not blameless, he should be the subject of pity and prayer.

Amen. This is why I continue to teach upon this most important issue.
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This post follows several previous posts (and comments by others) concerning the subject of evil.