HUMAN
RESPONSIBILITY
T.P.
Simmons
By
human responsibility we mean man's accountability to God for all of his actions.
The teaching of man's accountability is so general in the Bible that no
Scripture citations are needed. Any one that is at all acquainted with the Bible should be able with no difficulty to find
plenty of proof texts on this subject.
I.
HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
1.
THE MEANING OF GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY.
The
absolute sovereignty of God means just what Paul affirms in Eph. 1:11, where he
speaks of God as one that "worketh all things after the counsel of His will."
This teaches just what the Philadelphia Confession of Faith teaches when it
says: "God hath decreed in Himself from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and
unchangeably, all things whatsoever comes to pass." Other passages teaching the
absolute sovereignty of God are as follows:
"Who
knoweth not in all these, that the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this, in whose
hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all
mankind" (Job 12:9,10).
"Jehovah
hath established his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all"
(Psa. 103:19).
"Whatsoever
Jehovah pleased, that hath he done, in heaven and in earth,
in the seas and all deeps" (Psa. 135:6).
"Who
is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? Out of
the mouth of the Most High cometh there not evil and good?" (Lam.
3:37,38).
"I
form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am
Jehovah, that doeth all these things" (Isa. 45:7).
"I
am God, and there is none like me; declaring the end from the beginning, and
from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My
counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" (Isa.
46:10).
"All
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he doeth according to
his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none
can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?" (Dan.
4:35).
"At
that season Jesus answered and said, I thank thee 0 Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and
didst reveal them unto babes" (Matt. 11:25).
"Jesus
answered him, Thou couldest have no power against me, except it were given thee
from above" (John 19:11).
"I
will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have
compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that hath mercy. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh,
For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power,
and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth. So then he hath
mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth" (Rom.
9:15-18).
See
also Acts 2:2,3 and 4:27,28.
2.
WHY MAN IS RESPONSIBLE.
The
question is, then, how can man be responsible for his actions
when all that he does has been ordained and decreed of God? This is not a new
question. It is at least as old as the New Testament, and probably much older.
Paul anticipated this question from his readers when he penned the wonderful
ninth chapter of Romans. He said. "Thou will say then unto me, Why doth he still
find fault? For who withstandeth his will." And Paul's reply was: "Nay, but, 0
man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing
formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus? Or hath not the
potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto
honor, and another unto dishonor." Paul's mentioning of this question and his
reply show conclusively that Paul taught the absolute sovereignty of God. Indeed
his preceding words clearly teach it. Paul made the reply that he did because he
anticipated the question as coming from an objector. When it
comes as a reverent inquiry, it deserves more detailed consideration. Paul's
reply had to be brief because his time and purpose would not permit a lengthy
discussion. Our time permits and our purpose demands a fuller
discussion.
Man
is responsible for his actions, notwithstanding the fact that
God has decreed all that comes to pass, for at least three
reasons:
1.
God's Decree Concerning Sin is Not Causative but Permissive, Directive,
Preventive, and Determinative.
God
decreed that sin should come in the world, for reasons that are fully known only
to Him, but He decreed that it should come by man's own free choice. God does
not compel man to sin, but He allows it. Man, and not God, is the efficient
cause of sin; and for that reason man is responsible.
Before
passing it needs to be remarked that no objections can be brought against the
statement that God decreed that sin should come into the world that cannot be
brought against God's actual permission of sin, unless the objector takes the
position that God was powerless to prevent the entrance of sin. This would be a
denial of God's omnipotence and sovereignty, and would render the objector unworthy of consideration here. God's omnipotence
and sovereignty teaches us that whatever God permits He permits because He wills
to do so. And since God is immutable, His will has ever been the same. What He
wills at any time He has willed from all eternity. Therefore, His will equals
His purpose and His purpose equals His decree.
2.
The Law of God and Not His Decree Fixes Man's Duty and
Responsibility.
The
law of God is man's guide and standard. This is God's revealed will. God's
decree is His secret will. Man has nothing to do with this except to know and
acknowledge the facts concerning it. "The secret things belong unto Jehovah, our God; but things that are revealed belong
unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law"
(Deut. 29:29).
3.
The Motive Back of Man's Sinning Makes Him
Responsible.
Why
does man sin? Is it ever because he wants to do the will of God? Nay, never so.
Why did men crucify Christ? Was it because they believed that God had sent Him
to die as a sin-bearer? No. It was because they hated Him. They crucified Him
through wicked motives. It is thus that man always sins. Sin proceeds from man's
love of darkness (John 3:19).
II.
HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY AND MAN'S SPIRITUAL INABILITY
Another
question concerning man's responsibility is, How can man be responsible for not
fully obeying the law of God and for not receiving the gospel when it is heard
when he is unable by nature to do either of these? For proof
of man's spiritual inability, see chapters on Sin and
Conversion.
The
answer to this question is that man can be responsible for what he is unable to
do only on the supposition that he is to blame for his inability. And it is a
fact that man is to blame for his spiritual inability. It is not that he individually, by his own personal act, originated the
inability, for he was born with it. But every man sinned in Adam, and thus
originated his spiritual inability. That every man sinned in Adam is the true
teaching of Rom. 5:12- "Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the
world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that ALL
SINNED." "Sinned" in the Greek is aorist tense, which expresses pointed past
action. The passage makes it refer to the participation of
all men in the sin of Adam.
But
how did we participate in the sin of Adam when we were not born when he sinned?
We think we cannot do better than give the following words of A. H. Strong in
reply:
"God
imputes the sin of Adam immediately to all his posterity, in virtue of that
organic unity of mankind by which the whole race at the time of Adam's
transgression existed, not individually, but seminally, in him as its head. The
total life of humanity was then in Adam; the race as yet had its being only in
him. Its essence was not yet individualized; its forces were not yet
distributed; the powers which now exist in separate men were
then unified and localized in Adam; Adam's will was yet the will of the species.
In Adam's free act, the will of the race revolted from God and the nature of the
race corrupted itself. The nature which we now possess is the same nature that
corrupted itself in Adam- not the same in kind merely, but the same as flowing
to us continuously from him. Adam's sin is imputed to us immediately, therefore,
not as something foreign to us, but because it is ours--we
and all other men having existed as one moral person, or one moral whole, in
him, and as the result of that transgression, possessing a nature destitute of
love to God and prone to evil" (Systematic Theology, p.
328).
III.
HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY DEPENDENT ON
KNOWLEDGE
It
needs to be emphasized that man is responsible only so far as he knows, or has
within his reach the knowledge of, what is right. The heathen is responsible to
recognize God because, and only because, "that which is known of God is manifest
in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and
divinity; that they may be without excuse" (Rom. 1:19,20). As to acts of outward
conduct, the heathen is responsible only for the violation of such principles of
righteousness as his own conscience recognizes. "As many as have sinned without
the law shall also perish without the law," i. e., those to whom the written law of God has not been made known shall perish, but they
shall not perish through the condemnation of the written law. How then will they
be judged? The verses which follow the above quotation show that they will be
judged by their own standard of righteousness; they will be charged with no
transgressions except those against their own conscience. See Rom.
2:12-15.
From
the above it is evident that the heathen will not be charged with the sin of
unbelief or rejection of the gospel; yet they shall perish. This shows that it
is sin in general that condemns primarily. Rejection of the gospel does not
bring condemnation to man; it only manifests it and increases the penalty that
shall be inflicted because of it.
The
fact that human responsibility is dependent on knowledge explains why dying
infants and native imbeciles will be saved. They are mentally blind to the
principles of righteousness, and, therefore, are not responsible. This is the
kind of blindness that the Pharisees thought Jesus meant in John 9:39. And Jesus
perceiving the thought of their hearts, said unto them: "If ye were blind (in
the sense you have in mind), ye would have no sin" (John
9:41). There are but three kinds of blindness: physical blindness, mental
blindness, and spiritual blindness. Certainly the Pharisees did not suppose that
Jesus meant they were physically blind. And certainly Christ did not mean in His
reply to say that they were not spiritually blind. See John 12:37-40; 2 Cor.
4:3,4. He could have meant but one thing, and that is that if they were mentally
blind, they would have no sin. Infants and imbeciles are
mentally blind, as already stated, and are, therefore, not responsible for their
conduct. It is for this reason that we believe they will be saved through the
blood of Christ without the exercise of faith in the body. However, since they
have a sinful nature, we must believe that it will be necessary for them to be
regenerated and thus brought to faith in Christ. The Bible makes it clear that
this is necessary before one is fit for the presence of God.
But it does not tell us when it will take place with reference to infants and
imbeciles. We are of the opinion that it will take place at the time of the
separation of the spirit from the body in the hour of death. See also Deut. 1:39
as to personal responsibility of infants.