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.