It’s a wonderful verse full of
wonderful truth, but oh how often it is misused:
Ephesians
1:11 (KJV) In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
First of all we have to accept
that this verse is teaching that God does work out all things after the counsel
of his own will. But the real question is this; what is the “counsel of his own
will”? Well the verse cannot mean that
God causes absolutely all things and that this is the counsel of his own will,
why? Well for a few reasons:
1)
The verse is all encompassing “all things” is
used.
2)
It says that it is the counsel of his will.
God’s will is that we do not sin, see John 9:31 (KJV): Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and
doeth his will, him he heareth.
So the “all things” being talked
about here cannot be “all things in the universe that ever happen”, for if we
took this conclusion then we turn God into the causation of all sins and all
bad things, something we have seen already that God does not cause or desire in
the life of anyone. Therefore Ephesians 1:11 isn’t an all encompassing verse
that states that God causes absolutely all things in your life (and others)
according to the counsel of His will, it means something else. What does it
mean? Well I will leave you to do that research for yourself, it’s not a topic
I want to cover in this blog post.
But it is not saying God causes
absolutely all things, which is what people have imported onto the text and try
to fit it into the text, this would contradict the scriptures that teach God
does not cause or desire anyone to sin at all at absolutely any time. The
following second of this blog post confirms this truth.
Does God cause all
things (including sin)?
Think of a bad moment in life when someone has done
something hurtful to you, or when you have done something hurtful to someone
else. We ask things like “Why did that happen?”, and “why did God put me in
this situation and then cause that person to do that?”. If the act that the
person performed was a sin then God’s hand was not in it, if it was a good
thing the person did that also does not necessarily mean God caused them to do
it. God may have turned the heart to do something good to someone else; however
God certainly did not turn the heart to do something sinful and negative.
People try to avoid this by saying that God does everything he pleases in according
to the council of his will (as Ephesians 1:11 above), therefore if a man’s
heart is turned to sin it was because God causes it to happen for a specific
reason. Let me tell you plain, no way! Do not even think about it, to quote the
Apostle Paul; perish the thought! Consider the words of James carefully:
James 1 (KJV) 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am
tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any
man: 14 But every man is
tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
The passage from James goes on to explain more regarding
this, the passage is in direct contrast to the notion that God causes all
things including man’s sin by turning peoples hearts that way to achieve
something in his will. God’s will and desires never include causing man to
sin, yes God can use sins committed by man to achieve His own desires,
however God will not cause man to sin. There is a big difference. James makes
it clear, don’t blame God for when you or someone else sins or when you (or
someone else) make a bad choice or move in life.
So when someone says/asks “why did God cause that person to
sin? It must be a sign to me from God”, forget about it! God didn’t turn that
person’s heart or will to sin, they did it because of their own sinful nature.
We all make mistakes, its part of being a sinner.
Conclusion
Ephesians 1:11 is not stating to us that God causes absolutely
everything in the universe to occur which would include sin, by people
interpreting this verse as a literal and all encompassing “all things” they
make God out to be the cause of all sin and all disastrous events that God did
not desire (Jeremiah 19:5). Why? Because the verse does say “all things”,
therefore we know that this verse isn’t talking about absolutely “all things”
but means something else, for if it meant absolutely everything it would mean
we had no free will, it turns God into the author of our sin, and that God
desires things He has stated already in His work that He does not desire.
Thanks for the post, Andrew!
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