The Decrees of God - Part 2

As I mentioned before, I'd like to touch on the nature of God's decrees as they relate to our freewill.

The decrees do not lay compulsion or obligation upon the will of man. You still have the will and right to change your original direction by repentance, baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit as outlined in Acts 2:38. By doing so, you concede to putting the established decrees into motion.

God cannot cause sin, or decree to cause it. He simply decrees to create, and himself to act that you will, of your own free choice, commit sin. God determines upon His own acts, foreseeing what the results will be in the free acts of His creature and so he determines those results.

This permissive decree is the only decree of God with respect to sin. Man of himself is capable of producing sin. Of himself man is not capable of producing holiness. For example look at the denominations that stared out standing for a form of human holiness and look at where they are today.

Doctrines that are all over the place. Permissive to the point of just plan carnal activities in plain sight. Elevating men and women who practice immorality as a lifestyle. Can raise more money than the banks. So in the production of holiness two powers must occur. God’s will and man’s will, and God’s will must be FIRST. The decrees of good, therefore is not simply a permissive decree, as in the case of evil. God’s decree to bring to bear positive agencies for its productions, such as circumstances, motives influences of His Spirit motives influences of His Spirit. But in the case of evil, God’s decrees are simply His arrangement that man may do as He pleases, God all the while foreseeing the result.

Permissive agency should not be confounded with conditional agency, or permissive decree with conditional decree. God foreordained sin only indirectly. The machine is constructed not for the sake of the friction, but in spite of it. Sin is a result of man, he his contradicted and resisted his will. The truth of God’s Word is in opposition to sin so and hopefully as to almost deny the decree of sin in any way.

I maintain that God does decree sin in the sense of embracing in His plan the foreseen transgression of men, while at the same time I maintain that these foreseen transgressions are changeable wholly to men and not at all to God.

Next time, I will give an overview of the Doctrine of Decrees.

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Pastor James P. Norman

Artesian Well Church
6031 Linden Avenue
Long Beach, Ca 90805