Are God’s Providence and God’s Sovereignty the Same?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Well this summer, you Pastor John finished up a book
00:00:06.200 | on the providence of God, a 600 page book
00:00:09.140 | coming out in a little over a year from now.
00:00:11.640 | Really eager to see it, really looking forward
00:00:13.920 | to reading it.
00:00:15.400 | And we talked about it recently
00:00:17.520 | in Ask Pastor John episode 1371.
00:00:20.800 | You can go back and listen to that.
00:00:23.100 | Sometimes I say it's a book about the sovereignty of God.
00:00:25.640 | Sometimes I say it's a book about the providence of God.
00:00:27.880 | And it leads to a question from Masiel
00:00:29.920 | in the Dominican Republic.
00:00:32.160 | Hello Pastor John, for years I have been blessed
00:00:34.240 | by your ministry, your sermons and books especially.
00:00:36.720 | Thank you for future grace and desiring God.
00:00:39.360 | Likewise, Ask Pastor John has been an instrument
00:00:41.360 | to help me know Jesus better.
00:00:42.920 | I thank God for you and for Tony.
00:00:45.680 | I was looking for definitions on the sovereignty of God
00:00:48.600 | and the providence of God and I couldn't really find
00:00:51.160 | one that would make me understand the differences
00:00:53.480 | between the two terms.
00:00:55.180 | Could you please explain it Pastor John?
00:00:56.900 | Are they synonyms or how would you define each
00:01:00.000 | of these glorious truths, God's providence
00:01:02.200 | and God's sovereignty?
00:01:03.880 | - Excellent question and I will answer very specifically
00:01:07.960 | in just a moment the very question that was asked.
00:01:11.760 | But first, it really is important to say a few words
00:01:16.400 | about definitions and specifically definitions
00:01:20.520 | about words that are not used in the Bible.
00:01:24.840 | Providence is not a word in the English Bible.
00:01:28.780 | In that sense, it's like the words Bible,
00:01:33.060 | biblical, trinity, discipleship, evangelism,
00:01:38.060 | exposition, counseling, ethics, politics,
00:01:45.040 | charismatics, none of those words is in the Bible.
00:01:50.240 | Which shows that the reality that words point to
00:01:55.240 | is more important than the words themselves
00:01:59.180 | even though the words are precious, indispensable,
00:02:03.740 | in this case with the Bible, inspired, God-given.
00:02:08.080 | They are God's inspired words but they are pointing
00:02:13.660 | to reality and that reality may be so woven
00:02:19.380 | into the scriptures that it's helpful to have a word
00:02:24.380 | that pulls the threads of reality together,
00:02:28.880 | a word that may not be in the Bible itself.
00:02:32.700 | But now what's the implication of that for definitions
00:02:36.500 | that I'm being asked for?
00:02:38.500 | Well, since providence is not used
00:02:41.820 | in specific biblical texts, there's no biblical governor
00:02:47.700 | on its definition, its meaning.
00:02:50.940 | We can't say the Bible defines providence this way.
00:02:55.940 | We could only say that if the Bible
00:03:00.580 | actually used the word providence.
00:03:03.420 | Whenever you ask what does blank mean,
00:03:06.900 | what does providence mean, what does justification mean,
00:03:09.980 | what does faith mean, whenever you ask
00:03:13.120 | what does anything mean, there has to be a meaner,
00:03:18.120 | one who means, if the meaning is going to have any validity
00:03:23.360 | so that you can say it means this and not that.
00:03:27.700 | So if the meaner is not the Bible writers,
00:03:33.700 | then when I use the word providence,
00:03:38.000 | I must assign a meaning, I'm the meaner.
00:03:42.840 | And that's what I do in the first chapter
00:03:45.160 | of my book on providence.
00:03:47.640 | I don't assign it an arbitrary meaning.
00:03:50.960 | I hope if you do that, nobody will understand you.
00:03:54.520 | You won't be able to have any shared meaning with people
00:03:57.880 | because you've chosen a meaning
00:03:59.920 | that's just so far off the charts
00:04:01.360 | it doesn't make any sense to anybody.
00:04:04.420 | So I try to stay close to what others,
00:04:08.200 | other meaners have meant by the word in church history.
00:04:13.200 | But I do choose the meaning.
00:04:17.720 | Now you can see what that implies
00:04:20.080 | when we are trying to talk about
00:04:22.560 | the biblical view of providence,
00:04:25.640 | since the Bible doesn't use the word.
00:04:27.840 | It implies that the issue before us
00:04:32.400 | in those conversations about the meaning of providence,
00:04:35.760 | and in my book, the issue before us
00:04:37.960 | is not the meaning of the word providence.
00:04:42.520 | I choose a meaning to use in my book,
00:04:46.880 | and I will choose one here because you asked me to.
00:04:50.400 | The issue is, is the reality which I see in the Bible
00:04:55.400 | and call providence really there?
00:04:59.800 | That's the issue.
00:05:01.620 | Let me say it again.
00:05:02.800 | Is the reality which I see and describe in my book,
00:05:07.800 | is the reality which I call providence
00:05:12.040 | really there in the Bible?
00:05:15.360 | There's no point in quibbling over whether providence,
00:05:19.280 | the word providence, is the best word for the reality.
00:05:23.600 | That's relatively unimportant.
00:05:26.040 | The all-important thing is whether there is a reality
00:05:31.100 | in the Bible, which means is there a reality in the universe
00:05:36.100 | that corresponds to my description of the goal,
00:05:39.720 | nature, extent of God's providence.
00:05:43.700 | So here are my answers to your question, Maceo.
00:05:48.700 | No, sovereignty and providence,
00:05:52.080 | sovereignty and providence are not the same.
00:05:55.660 | God's sovereignty is his right and power
00:05:59.460 | to do all that he decides to do.
00:06:02.180 | Job 42.2, I know that you can do all things
00:06:07.000 | and no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
00:06:10.900 | But notice, nothing in that definition of sovereignty
00:06:15.600 | refers to God's wisdom or God's plans.
00:06:20.040 | It's just right and power.
00:06:22.560 | You have the right and you have the power
00:06:24.240 | to do what you decide to do.
00:06:26.460 | When he decides to do a thing, he does it,
00:06:29.520 | and no one can stop him.
00:06:31.400 | That's sovereignty.
00:06:33.740 | So to make sovereignty a Christian concept,
00:06:37.280 | a Christian concept, not just a philosophical one,
00:06:41.800 | to make it a Christian concept,
00:06:43.820 | we have to bring in other things we know about God
00:06:47.100 | from the Bible, like wisdom and justice
00:06:50.780 | and righteousness and grace.
00:06:53.920 | Providence, however, includes what sovereignty doesn't.
00:06:58.920 | Providence, as I use the word,
00:07:02.980 | and as most Christians have used it,
00:07:06.040 | is sovereignty in the service of wise purposes.
00:07:11.040 | I'll say it again.
00:07:13.620 | Providence is sovereignty in the service
00:07:18.620 | of wise, good purposes.
00:07:22.960 | Or you could say wise and purposeful sovereignty.
00:07:27.580 | That's what providence is.
00:07:29.660 | Since his purpose is so central to his providence,
00:07:34.560 | I spend, what, 150 pages or so clarifying
00:07:39.220 | what the Bible says God's ultimate purpose is.
00:07:43.160 | It's not very helpful to try to nail down
00:07:46.400 | the meaning of a word like providence
00:07:48.400 | by picking apart its etymology,
00:07:51.600 | the history of its pieces, like providence.
00:07:56.600 | Because the Latin behind provide or vide is ambiguous.
00:08:03.600 | It can mean foresee, so vide si, pro for, foresee.
00:08:11.560 | Or it can mean see toward.
00:08:18.720 | And we have an idiom in English that says see to that.
00:08:22.320 | That's an interesting idiom, isn't it?
00:08:23.960 | - Yeah. - What does it mean?
00:08:25.080 | It means take the steps to make sure it happens.
00:08:28.720 | In fact, I think that is one of the most helpful
00:08:32.240 | paraphrases of God's acts of providence.
00:08:34.660 | It is God's seeing to everything.
00:08:38.420 | Absolutely everything that needs to be done
00:08:41.800 | to bring about his purposes,
00:08:44.120 | God sees to it that they happen.
00:08:46.200 | Isaiah 46, 10, I declare the end from the beginning
00:08:49.760 | and from ancient times things not yet done,
00:08:51.920 | saying my counsel will stand,
00:08:54.600 | I will accomplish all my purpose.
00:08:58.560 | In other words, I will see to it, see to it, provide.
00:09:02.440 | I will see to it, I will provide, I will see to it
00:09:06.200 | that everything works together for the goals
00:09:09.140 | that I have for the world.
00:09:11.240 | Let me close with one example from history
00:09:13.640 | that I think is so beautiful.
00:09:14.820 | This is question 27 of the Heidelberg Catechism.
00:09:17.940 | Date on that is 1563.
00:09:21.840 | Question goes, what do you understand
00:09:24.660 | by the providence of God?
00:09:26.560 | Answer, the almighty, everywhere present power of God
00:09:31.560 | whereby, as it were by his hand,
00:09:36.900 | he still upholds heaven and earth with all creatures
00:09:41.680 | and so governs them that herbs and grass,
00:09:45.060 | rain and drought, fruitful and barren years,
00:09:49.140 | meat and drink, health and sickness,
00:09:52.780 | riches and poverty, indeed all things come,
00:09:57.780 | not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.
00:10:03.180 | That's a good summary of God's providence,
00:10:08.060 | his wise and purposeful sovereignty.
00:10:13.060 | - Amen, thank you for that summary, Pastor John.
00:10:15.380 | All flowing from your book,
00:10:16.560 | "Providence," tentatively scheduled for release early in 2021.
00:10:21.140 | Be looking for it.
00:10:22.760 | Thanks for subscribing to Ask Pastor John
00:10:24.440 | in your favorite podcast app or in YouTube.
00:10:26.520 | We appreciate having you along.
00:10:28.860 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke,
00:10:29.820 | and Pastor John and I will see you on Monday
00:10:31.840 | when we ask, do stay-at-home moms get a day off?
00:10:36.400 | It's a good question.
00:10:37.240 | We need to address it.
00:10:38.080 | It's up next.
00:10:38.920 | We'll see you on Monday.
00:10:40.080 | (upbeat music)
00:10:42.660 | (upbeat music)
00:10:45.240 | [BLANK_AUDIO]