The connection between God's decree and man's fall always raises many questions when it is spoken about in a sermon or is explained in catechism class. It is also mentioned quite often on house visitation. It is a subject of great importance, and therefore it may be discussed. But how? We are afraid that often the questions do not arise from a good motive.

You may ask, "In what way?" Often these questions come up out of enmity against God, which we can also find at moments in the hearts of God's people. You then hear the question, "Why did the Lord not create man in such a way that he could not fall?" Or they say, "Man could not really help it that he sinned, because the Lord had already decreed it." Some even go further and say bluntly, "God is the author of sin." Thus many accusations are made.

If you are confronted by this question, then it is good to listen to what God says in His Word and to what our fathers, who had so much more light than we, have written about this subject. By reading God's Word and the writings of our old fathers we will get a deeper insight and begin to see that we may not blame the Lord, but that we, that I, have sinned against God and have willfully forsaken Him. May the Lord also use this writing to that end.

The Doctrine of God's Decrees⤒🔗

In speaking of God's decrees, theologians usually make the following division:

1. God's immanent or internal acts, which are wholly subjective. This decree of God has no reference to anything that is outside of God; it deals with the generation of the Son and the procession of the Holy Ghost.
2. God's transient or external acts to the universe, external to Himself, including all His works of creation and providence done in time; this also includes redemption.

We may formulate it in these words: "The decrees of God are His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass." When you read the old fathers, the dogmatics, and your catechism book, you will find a much broader expla­nation. Take the time to read about this important subject. For many that which the prophet Hosea has written is so applicable: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Our having "no time" will testify against us in the day of days.

Rev. Hellenbroek writes about God's decrees in chapter IV, ques­tion 2: "When has God formed His decree?" His answer is: "From eternity." And in question 5, "Are His decrees changeable?" Answer, "No, they are unchangeable (Isaiah 46:10)." The decree is an act of God's will. God determined to execute His sovereign will in time. There was no necessity for God to do this, as if His perfection would have lacked something if He had not created the heavens and the earth, but it pleased Him to execute His decree.

Objections to the Doctrine of God's Decrees←⤒🔗

Only Reformed theology does full justice to the doctrine of God's decrees. The Lutherans do not; their belief in pre-determination is limited to the good things in the world, and more particularly to the blessings of salvation. In the doctrine of predestination, Lutheran theology shows a strong affinity with Arminianism. Pelagians and Socinians reject it as unscriptural. The Semi-Pelagians show it scant favor, and others ignore this doctrine altogether.

Their objections are:

1. It is inconsistent with the moral freedom of man. As a rational creature, man is able to decide for himself. The decree of God, however, carries necessity with it. God has decreed to effectuate all things; He has decided the course of man's life. So they claim that the Divine decree is inconsistent with the free agency of man.

What must our answer be to this? Although man is a free agent, still he is fully responsible for his acts (Genesis 50:19-20; Acts 2:32 and 4:27-28). In the Scriptures there is not a single indication that the inspired writers see a contradiction in these matters. They never attempt to harmonize these two. This should restrain us from assuming a contradiction here, even if we cannot reconcile both truths with our finite minds.

2. It takes away all motives for human exertion. This objection is to the effect that people will say, "If all things are determined by God, then man does not need to be concerned about the future and need not make any effort to obtain salvation."

We can find the same reasoning in the catechism on the question about our good works, where it is asked, "But does not this doctrine make man careless and profane?" (Question 64). The answer does not leave any doubt: "By no means." What is wrong in this reasoning? It is forgotten that the divine decrees are not known to us and therefore cannot be a rule for us, since their contents become known to us only through, and therefore after, their realization. The rule for us is embodied in law and gospel, which puts man under obligation to employ the means which God has ordained. Are we doing this, my friends?

3. It makes God the author of sin. God cannot be the author of sin, as Scripture tells us in many places (Psalm 92:15; Ecclesiastes 7:29; James 1:13; 1 John 1:5). This is also evident from the attribute of God's holiness and from the law, which forbids all sin.

God is not the author of sin, but He left room for sin, and He permitted sin to take place. God does not take delight in sin; no, He hates sin. However, God decreed that through the depth of the fall He was to be glorified in His justice and in His mercy.

The doctrine of God's decrees does not present a special difficulty if we may see it in the light of God's Word. It represents God as decree­ing that sin takes place as the free act of the sinner, and not by any form of God taking part in sin or tempting man to sin.

God's Decree Is Universal←⤒🔗

God's decree is universal, since it embraces absolutely all creatures and all actions. Nothing happens in heaven or on the earth outside of God's eternal decree. In Ephesians 1:11 we read, "Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." Nothing is excluded. Evil as well as good are included in God's counsel. The sins of the wicked are also righteously decreed, for if God had not willed these sins, they would not have taken place. God's counsel includes all things, and He glorifies Himself also through the depth of that sin which makes man guilty. This means that sin is under God's control, whether it is or was com­mitted, whether in heaven by the fallen angels or on earth by man. Sin does not destroy the counsel of God but, being included in His decree, serves in the performance of it. From what we have seen above, it is clear that the fall is also included in God's decree.

The Fall Was in God's Decree←⤒🔗

The discussion of God's decrees naturally leads on to the consideration of the execution of God's decrees. This begins with the work of creation, which is the act of the Triune God.

After the explanation we have tried to give of God's decrees, there is actually not much to add to it, we would say. But we have yet to answer several questions related to this difficult topic. For many it is, and remains, difficult, but may the Lord give a little light over it, so that the bonds may be broken in your life. Also among God's people there can be such strife about it under the instigation of the devil. This can last for a long time, especially when we are trying to comprehend everything that the Lord is doing. God is sovereign in His doings.

By nature man takes offense at God's sovereignty and wants to maintain his own responsibility. Churches that very strongly emphasize responsibility often include the fall of man in God's foreknowledge, but not in God's decree. Actually this leads us back to the difference between the Supralapsarians and the Infralapsarians. In Rev. G. H. Kersten's Reformed Dogmatics, in the chapter on predestination, he writes extensively about their differences. It is well-known that the Infralapsarians emphasize the responsibility of man, which is not denied by the Supralapsarians, but the latter place the sovereignty of God in the first place.

Those who deny that God decreed the fall thus ask why God did not prevent the fall, if He knew it was coming. Paul answers them in Romans 9:20, "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?"

The well-known Perkins has written, "To say that God knew beforehand about the fall of Adam, but did not ordain it by an eternal decree, is entirely wicked, for the least thing in nature does not take place without God's decree and will (Matthew 10:30). By His eternal counsel God has also decreed works that are sinful (Acts 4:28). Therefore those who say this are casting God's providence aside, or at least they are ascribing to God an empty providence. Furthermore the fall is a means by which predestination is executed, and ordained to the same purpose."

When we think of God's creation, then it was good, as Solomon says, "This only have I found, that God hath made man upright." God created man after His image, which consisted in knowledge, righteous­ness, and holiness. In the state of innocence man was prophet, priest, and king, and he was able to do what God required of him; it was also the desire of his heart to do so. Man had all the gifts and power to resist the enemy or the temptation that would come.

The Lord made a covenant with Adam, which he accepted with all his heart. It was not burdensome; Adam and Eve could fulfill it if they wanted. This covenant the Lord made with them, not only that they should say that they loved God, but that they should also show in their deeds in daily life that the Lord had the highest place in their life. If they would be obedient, they would remain in God's communion forever, but they knew also what the consequence would be if they sinned against God.

Although they were fully aware of all this and had the ability to reject any intruder in the garden, our first parents listened to the devil and did not regard the promise and threat of the Lord. We know from where the devil came. Before, he was an angel, but he rebelled against God, and so he became a fallen angel. Thus the first sin took place in direct communion with God. How this was possible, how this could happen, we do not know. For the devil there is no hope to be saved. His enmity against God was so great that he tried to allure man, who was the jewel of God's creation, and bring him into the same state of misery as he was.

In God's wisdom He had left the opportunity for man to come to a higher state, namely, that after a certain set time he could not sin anymore, but would remain forever in His communion. We must say that some theologians differ in this and think that the commandment of obedience would have lasted for ever. However, the Lord also left room for sin. We know the outcome: man became disobedient and lost the precious communion with God.

This sin of man is not outside of God's decree. The Lord did not only foreknow the fall, but He also decreed it from eternity. That means that the fall did not come unexpect­edly. According to God's unchangeable decree man must sin. May we say it this way? Yes, we may; but then we must also make it clear that, according to the power and gifts man had received, he was able to remain free from sin. We can never blame the Lord for our fall.

The irrational creation fulfills God's decrees without conscious cooperation, but man acted freely. God's decree was hidden from him, but he should have acted according to the command of God, according to God's revealed will, that is, according to the covenant the Lord made with him. The decree of God did not take away the responsibility of man for his acts in obedience or disobedience.

In the way of the required obedience our first parents were required to show love to God above all. We may not dispute God's sovereignty, for it is written, "He does according to His will with the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth." The heavenly Potter has the power to do with His clay what pleases Him.

When Eve took of the forbidden fruit and gave it to Adam, who ate also, they made themselves loose from God. They made God a liar and believed Satan. Here we have the origin of the stream of sin and misery which began to move over the surface of the earth. Paradise, the place of the greatest happiness, where communion with God was man's daily delight, is the place where sin came into the world. This sin affected not only Adam and Eve, but the whole human race. Adam is the father of us all, and he was also the head of the covenant of works, wherein he represented all his descendants; so we sinned in him. The imputation of this first sin is not by natural relation, but by covenant relation.

In Lord's Day 3 the Catechism shows clearly how we are involved. It first speaks of man, then of our first parents, but at the end, of our nature being so corrupt. So we are now no longer uninterested specta­tors of what happened in Paradise, but we are personally involved. We are also accused. Has it ever both­ered us to be a sinner before God? When it pleases the Lord to lead us to the origin of our misery, then He leads us back to Paradise. Then we must, and will, own the sin of Adam as our sin. Then we will not be rebellious against the Lord, but bow before Him in the dust.

By this sin our human nature became depraved and corrupt; we are spiritually dead, incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all evil. If we build on our good works, we will perish with the foolish builder. Therefore the Lord Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." What is it to be born again? Our fathers wrote in the Canons of Dordt that it is a new creation, a resurrection of the dead, which God works in us without our aid.

The Holy Spirit calls the dead sinner to life by God's Word. He begins to see his actual sins. Do such persons immediately know that they are born again? No, they feel themselves to be unconverted, and they cry to the Lord to remember them, even though they do not deserve this at all. Nevertheless, they cannot stop asking time and again. Especially in the beginning of the way, this is continually on their mind, "How can I ever be reconciled with God?" It is incomprehensible to them that everyone is not troubled with this question. You find the signs of sorrow in their life, although they cannot believe this is the true work of the Lord, since so much sin remains in their life. But the Lord is not a land of outer darkness, and He will visit His people at His time.

When it pleases the Holy Spirit to dig deeper in our life, then we also learn our original sin. We are brought back to Paradise, where we, where I, have broken the covenant of works. Man will never flee to Christ if he does not learn his lost condition in the first Adam. Some­times the work of the Holy Spirit is portrayed thus: First we are led out of the Egypt of sin and led to Sinai, where the law is proclaimed. From there the Spirit leads to Paradise, where we learn the origin of our sin. This happens before we come to Golgotha, where Christ gave satisfaction for His church when He cried out, "It is finished." He died for our sins, He is risen to our justification. There we lose the burden of our sin and receive life out of Christ.

When it pleases the Lord to lead us further, then we may see that Christ also ascended into heaven, where He prepares a place for His children who are yet in the strife. This is a place not only in glory, but also in the heart of the Father. How great is the privilege to know that God is our Father and that He cares for us in all the circumstances of this difficult life on earth.

The mystery of salvation becomes even greater: that God already from eternity had decreed that a remnant of the human race would be saved. In His decree, God saw not only the fall, but also the remedy for the fall in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ and the covenant of grace, God would give an unchangeable good, which His people could never lose again. The pleasure of the Father is the deepest ground of salvation, which is worked out by Christ and applied by the Holy Spirit. Salvation is sure in the hands of the Triune God.