A Biblical Overview of Compatibilism
Sovereign properly means possessing all authorityโruling freely without any higher power over you. That doesnโt mean God merely watches from a distance, nor that His creatures are turned into robots. Scripture teaches that God actively governs all things according to His will (Ephesians 1:11; Hebrews 1:3), yet we still act as real, responsible agents.
Compatibilism
This is often called compatibilism: God’s sovereign rule and human responsibility are both fully true. Our choices are real, but God’s purposes are never frustrated. We see this clearly in Genesis 50:20โJoseph tells his brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” Their actions were genuinely sinful, yet at the same time, God sovereignly intended them for His righteous purpose.
Similarly, Acts 4:27โ28 shows that Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, and Israel all did “whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.” They freely sinned, yet everything unfolded exactly according to Godโs sovereign plan.
Sovereign Over All, Good and Evil
The Bible plainly teaches: God ordains evil without being evil. He is the sovereign Author of history, but not the actor of sin. Creatures sin freely and bear full responsibility. God remains holy, just, and blameless.
โThe One forming light and creating darkness, producing peace and creating calamity; I am Yahweh who does all these.โ โ Isaiah 45:7
โYahweh has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil.โ โ Proverbs 16:4
We see this truth throughout Scripture.
- In Job 1โ2, Satan himself must appear before God to receive permission to afflict Job and cannot act beyond the limits God sets.
- In 1 Samuel 16:14, God sends a tormenting spirit upon Saul as an act of judgment.
- In Revelation, the tribulation is not the triumph of evil forces acting independently, but the unfolding of events under the sovereign direction of the Lamb who opens the seals (Revelation 5โ6).
- God ordains both the persecution and the divine protection of His church, as seen in Revelation 12, where the woman representing the faithful flees into the wilderness to the place prepared for her.
Regardless of whether one holds a premillennial, amillennial, or postmillennial view, God’s sovereign rule over these events is unmistakable. He is not reacting to evil; He is meticulously ordaining it for His purposes.
And the most grievous sin, the greatest injustice of all time: the murder of the blameless Son of God on the crossโGod ordained. The Cross was not a “plan b”, nor did God cobble together a plan as events transpired. Rather, God intended from before the beginning (Revelation 13:8) for Judas, Pilate, the Jews, and the Gentiles to sin (Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27โ28 and seek Christ’s death.
27 For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.
People willed to sin. God willed to accomplish His purpose. God remains holy, blameless, and good.
What about free will?
When it comes to free will, Scripture teaches that we act freely according to our nature. Apart from Christ, we are “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3), freely choosing rebellion. That’s why salvation is a work of God’s grace from beginning to end. In John 6, Jesus makes this point directly: faith itself is the “work of God” (John 6:29), not something we produce from a neutral or willing heart. He says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44).
Coram Deo
We desperately need Godโs graceโnot just to forgive us, but even to believe. To live coram Deo is to recognize that every moment, every decision, and every breath occurs before the face of God. It means humbly submitting to His sovereign rule, trusting in His perfect wisdom, and resting in His unshakable promisesโeven when we cannot comprehend the full depths of His plan.
