@cv5 @Bible_Highlighter what is y’all’s understanding of Acts 2:23?
Acts 2:23 says, “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” This verse does not teach that God decreed these men to commit evil. “Determinate counsel” refers to God’s settled plan that Christ would die for the sins of mankind, and “foreknowledge” refers to God’s perfect knowledge of what free creatures would choose when placed in certain circumstances. God simply influenced events and the circumstances surrounding the crucifixion, knowing exactly how these men would freely respond according to their own sinful desires. He did not force their evil, nor did He decree their sin. Instead, He allowed their choices to move in the direction they were already inclined, and their wicked decisions brought about the outcome He had prophesied. They “by wicked hands” have “crucified and slain” Christ because the evil was theirs, not His. This matches James 1:14, which says, “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed,” as well as James 1:13, which states, “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.”
God knows all future possibilities, and He can anticipate what men will freely choose long before they make those choices. Because of His perfect knowledge, God is able to shape and redirect events in history so that certain outcomes are fulfilled without ever being the author of sin. He can allow evil choices to unfold and yet use those choices as part of a greater plan for good. God can influence circumstances and guide the flow of history without decreeing sin, causing sin, or being morally attached to any sinful act. He simply works through what men and the devil freely choose, turning their intended evil toward the fulfillment of His righteous purposes.
Peter confirms the responsibility of the sinners again in Acts 3:14-15 when he says, “But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of life.” The responsibility for Christ’s death is placed entirely upon the free and wicked choices of the men who did it, not on any divine decree forcing them into sin. God permitted their freely chosen evil to unfold at the exact moment necessary for redemption. This mirrors the story of Joseph, where his brothers meant evil, yet God used their evil actions for good without causing their sin. Acts 2:23 fully upholds God’s sovereignty while denying all forms of Calvinistic determinism.
God does know the future, and He does declare the end from the beginning, as Isaiah 46:10 says, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done.” Yet God can only do what is good and what is loving. Scripture says, “God is love” (1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:16), and “the Lord is good” (Psalm 100:5 and Psalm 107:1). Jesus also said, “None is good, save one, that is, God” (Luke 18:19), meaning that God alone is good in the absolute sense. Everything God does is righteous and pure. It is impossible for God to decree men to sin. It is even more monstrous to suggest that God created the majority of mankind with their one and only option in life as to sin alone, and then punishing them for something they had no control over.
For example, imagine if a master had a dog with a sickness whereby it has an uncontrollable pooping problem where it leaves hot large piles of steamy goodness up his master’s white carpets. Then when the master came home, he kicks the animal across the room like a football in a fit of rage, even though he knew the dog was sick and could not control its condition. Such a master would not be righteous or good. Yet this is exactly what Calvinism requires us to believe about God. If Calvinism were true, God would be punishing men for what they cannot control, while being the very cause of their condition. That is why Calvinism is not only false but absolutely ridiculous.
Furthermore, man can only do what is truly good and righteous when God Himself produces that good within him. Jesus said, “Without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Scripture adds, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13), and speaks of believers being “filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:11). All true goodness comes from God, and all true righteousness is the fruit of His Spirit, not the product of man’s flesh (Galatians 5:22 to 23). This further proves that God does not decree sin, for God produces good in His people, not evil.
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