Sovereignty of God in Christianity

Historical developments

Throughout history, Christian theologians have advocated for a free-will theodicy. Besides, the question whether God's way of expressing his sovereignty is consistent with meaningful human decisions which are free from compulsion is a significant theological question in Christianity. The debate on this question was first clearly expressed by Augustine of Hippo in the 4th century. The debate has continued through various forms notably through the Calvinist-Arminian debate until today. Theologians have subsequently articulated various perspectives on how God's exercise of sovereignty corresponds to distinct self-imposed limitations.

Theological views

Early Christian views

The theological tradition before Augustine (354 – 430) largely emphasizes the freedom of the human will. However, Augustine articulated God's sovereignty in terms of his continuous control and unifying governance of the universe. In contrast, the Greek church fathers generally rejected theological determinism as a means of exercising divine sovereignty and affirmed a classical free will theism. For example, Saint Maximus the Confessor (c. 580 – 662) argued that, because humans are created in the image of God, they possess a form of self-determination analogous to God's own. Similarly, John of Damascus (c. 675 - 749) maintained that God's sovereignty does not override human self-determination but allows human freedom to operate within divine providence.

Catholic views

Christian teaching on providence in the High Middle Ages was most fully developed by Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica (1274). It viewed the concept of providence as a care exercised by God over the universe.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1993) expresses the concept of God's sovereignty as his rule over his creation, allowing human libertarian free will and co-operation with him: "God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures' co-operation. This use is not a sign of weakness, but rather a token of almighty God's greatness and goodness. God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other".

Eastern Orthodox view

In general, Eastern Theology places much more emphasis on human freedom and less on God's sovereignty than do the Augustinian and Reformed strands of Western theology. Orthodox view of human free will is close to the Wesleyan-Arminian view.

Reformed view

Orthodox Reformed (both historical and Edwardsian Calvinism) view God's sovereignty as expressed through theological determinism. This means that every event in the world is determined by God. As the Westminster Confession of Faith put it: "God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatever comes to pass."

From this perspective, God alone possesses free-will in the sense of ultimate self-determination. Moreover, God acts through voluntarism in its nominalist sense. This means, what God does is good not because it is guided by his character or moral structure within his nature, but only because God wants it. Besides, Calvinism affirm a determinism involving semicompatibilism, which implies the compatibility between human responsibility for an act and its determination by God.

Concerning salvation, Calvin expressly taught that it is God's sovereign decision to determine whether an individual is saved or damned. He writes "By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death." Indeed, human actions leading to this end are also predetermined by God.

Concerning prayer, from an Edwardsian Calvinist view, it can be seen as a predetermined means for a predetermined purpose. More generally, from the majority Calvinist view, prayer can't change by itself what is predetermined by God. Specifically, prayer for salvation will not change the predetermined damnation of some. Nor will prayer for salvation cause the predetermined salvation of the elect.

Arminian view

Arminianism holds that God is both omnipotent and omniscient. His power and knowledge are not subject to any external limitation but are exercised in accordance with his own divine nature and character.

This understanding of God gives rise to two fundamental principles. First, divine action must be conceived in such a way that God is never, even secondarily, the author of evil, since this would contradict his character, especially as fully revealed in Jesus Christ. Second, human responsibility for evil must be preserved. These two principles shape the Arminian understanding of divine sovereignty. God exercises a limited mode of providence, deliberately governing creation without determining every event, and his election is understood as a "predestination by foreknowledge". Consequently, God's foreknowledge is exhaustive and complete, fully compatible with human freedom of action.

Human free will is therefore granted and bounded by divine sovereignty, which nonetheless permits all people to accept the gospel through faith while also allowing them to resist it.