Evil, Slavery, and the Sovereignty of God
One of the books that I have been reading for class is a book by Dr. Gordon H. Clark, entitled God and Evil: The Problem Solved. It is a very small book of about 61 pages, but it packs a powerful punch in answering the question of evil. The problem of evil is not easy to answer, and it continues to be a debate among Christians and theologians alike.
I mentioned to someone not too long ago concerning a book written by Anthony Carter, entitled On Being Black and Reformed: A New Perspective on the African-American Christian Experience. I highly recommend this book because it is a book that is long overdue in answering the question concerning the African-American experience. So then, how does one answer such difficult questions? If God is the cause of all things, what about human responsibility?
The Bible makes no mistake in answering the question. Actually, the two concepts are not pit against each other at all. As a matter of fact, they compliment each other. The Westminster Confession of Faith states:
God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established (III:i).
One must then ask the question, what the WCF means by “author of sin?” Dr. Clark puts the question more pointedly: “When, accordingly, the discussion comes to God’s being the author of sin, one must understand the question to be, [i]s God the immediate cause of sin? Or, more clearly, [d]oes God commit sin?”1
What it cannot mean is that He is somehow not the cause of it. Isaiah 45:7 states, “I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.” God is the ultimate cause of evil and sin, but He is not the immediate cause. God does not commit sin, neither is sin found in His person. We are responsible for the evil we cause because we commit evil deeds by the corruption of our hearts. Nevertheless, God uses the evil actions of men to bring Glory to himself, even the act of slavery.
God told Abraham, that His people would be put into slavery before it came to pass. Was the act of slavery evil? Yes. Was it ordained by God? Yes. Joseph, the son of Israel was sold into slavery by his brothers. Joseph knowing that God is the ultimate cause of all things, gave glory to God for his enslavement. When Israel died, Joseph’s brothers feared that Joseph would take revenge on them. Joseph eased their fear by stating, “You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result – the survival of many people” (Genesis 50:20). Even though it was God”s will that Joseph be sold into slavery, the brothers are still guilty because it was evil done by their hands. Sometimes we can see the end result of His secret will and sometimes we cannot. Why did God allow the transatlantic slave trade to happen? We may never be certain. Can we say that any good came out of it? Most definitely; “I will call Not-My-People, My-People, and she who is Unloved, Beloved. And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not My people, there they will be called sons of the living God” (Romans 9:25-26)
