Chapter 18. That God Does So Use the Service of Wicked Men, and So Bends Their Minds to Execute His Judgments, That Yet Still He Himself Remains Pure from All Spot

There arises a hard question out of other places, where it is said that God bows and draws at his will, Satan himself and all the reprobate. For the sense of the flesh scarcely conceives how he, working by them, should not gather some spot of their fault, yea in his common working be free from all fault, and justly condemn his ministers. Upon this was devised the distinction between Doing and Suffering: because many have thought this doubt impossible to be dissolved: that both Satan and all the wicked are so under the hand and power of God, that he directs their malice to whatever end it pleases him, and uses their wicked doings to the executing of his judgments. And their modesty were perhaps excusable, whom the show of absurdity puts in fear, if it were not so that they do wrongfully with a lying defense go about to deliver the justice of God from all unrightful blame. It seems to them unreasonable, that man should by the will and commandment of God be made blind, and so by and by be punished for his blindness. Therefore they seek to escape by this shift, that this is done by the sufferance, but not by the will of God. But he himself plainly pronouncing that he does it, does reject that shift. As for this that men do nothing but by the secret commandment of God, and do trouble themselves in vain with deliberating, unless he does by his secret direction establish that which he has before determined, it is proved by innumerable and plain testimonies. It is certain that this which we before alleged out of the Psalm, that God does all things that he will, belongs to all the doings of men. If God be the certain appointer of war and peace, as it is there said, and that without exception: who dare say that men are carried causelessly with blind motion while God knows not of it, and sits still? But in special examples will be more clear plainness. By the first chapter of Job we know, that Satan does no less appear before God to receive his commandments than do the Angels which do willingly obey. Indeed it is after a diverse manner and for a diverse end, but yet so that he cannot go about anything but with the will of God. Although there seems afterward to be added a bare sufferance of him to afflict the holy man: yet because that saying is true: The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away, as it pleased God so is it come to pass. We gather that God was the author of that trial of Job, of which Satan and the wicked thieves were ministers. Satan goes about to drive the holy man by desperation to madness. The Sabeans cruelly and wickedly do invade and rob his goods that were none of theirs. Job acknowledges that he [reconstructed: was] by God stripped of all his goods and made poor, because it so pleased God. Therefore whatever men or Satan himself attempt, yet God holds the stern to turn all their travails to the executing of his judgments. It was God's will to have the false king Ahab deceived: the devil offered his service thereto: he was sent with a certain commandment, to be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the Prophets. If the blinding and madness of Ahab be the judgment of God, then the device of bare Sufferance is vain. For it were a foolish thing to say, that the judge does only suffer and not also decree what he will have done, and command the ministers to put it in execution. It was the Jews' purpose to destroy Christ, Pilate and the soldiers do follow their raging lust, and yet in a solemn prayer the disciples do confess, that all the wicked men did nothing else but that which the hand and counsel of God had determined: even as Peter had before preached, that Christ was by the decreed purpose and foreknowledge of God delivered to be slain. As if he should say: that God (from whom nothing is hidden from the beginning) did wittingly and willingly appoint that which the Jews did execute, as in another place he rehearses, that God which showed before by all his Prophets that Christ should suffer, has so fulfilled it. Absalom defiling his father's bed with incestuous adultery, committed detestable wickedness. Yet God pronounces that this was his own work. For the words are these: You have done it secretly, but I will do it openly, and before the sun. Jeremiah pronounces that all the cruelty that the Chaldeans used in Jewry, was the work of God. For which cause Nebuchadnezzar is called the servant of God. God everywhere cries out that with his hissing, with the sound of his trumpet, with his power and commandment the wicked are stirred up to war. He calls the Assyrian the rod of his wrath, and the axe that he moves with his hand. The destruction of the holy city and ruin of the Temple he calls his work. David not murmuring against God, but acknowledging him for a righteous judge, yet confesses that the cursings of Shimei proceeded from the commandment of God. The Lord (says he) commanded him to curse. We often find in the holy history, that whatever happens it comes from the Lord, as the departing of the ten tribes, the death of the sons of Eli, and very many things of like sort. They that be moderately exercised in the Scriptures do see, that for brevity's sake, I bring forth out of many testimonies but a few, by which yet it appears plainly enough, that they do trifle and talk foolishly, that thrust in a bare Sufferance in place of the Providence of God, as though God sat in a watchtower waiting for the chances of Fortune, and so his judgments should hang upon the will of men.

Now as concerning secret motions, that which Solomon speaks of the heart of a king, that it is bowed here or there as pleases God, extends surely to all mankind, and is as much in effect as if he had said: whatever we conceive in our minds, is by the secret inspiration of God directed to his end. And truly if he did not work in the minds of men, it were not rightly said, that he takes away the lip from the true speakers, and wisdom from aged men, that he takes the heart from the princes of the earth, that they may wander where is no beaten way. And to this belongs that which we often read, that men are fearful so far forth as their hearts are taken with his fear. So David went out of the camp of Saul and none was aware of it, because the sleep of God was come upon them all. But nothing can be desired to be more plainly spoken, than where he so often pronounces, that he blinds the eyes of men, and strikes them with giddiness, that he makes them drunk with the spirit of drowsiness, casts them into madness, and hardens their hearts. These things also many do refer to sufferance, as if in forsaking the reprobate, he suffered them to be blinded by Satan. But that solution is too fond, forasmuch as the Holy Ghost in plain words expresses, that they are struck with blindness and madness by the just judgment of God. It is said, that he hardened the heart of Pharaoh, also that he did make it dull and strengthen it. Some do with an unsavory caviling mock away these phrases of speech, because where in another place it is said, that Pharaoh did harden his own heart, there is his own will set for the cause of his hardening. As though these things did not very well agree together, although in diverse manners, that man while he is moved in working by God, does also work himself. And I do turn back their objection against themselves. For, if to harden does signify but a bare sufferance, then the very motion of obstinacy shall not be properly in Pharaoh. Now how weak and foolish were it so to expound, as if Pharaoh did only suffer himself to be hardened? Moreover the Scripture cuts off all occasions from such cavilings. For God says, I will hold his heart. So of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan Moses says, that they went forth to battle, because the Lord had hardened their hearts. Which same thing is repeated by another Prophet, saying: He turned their hearts that they should hate his people. Again in Isaiah he says, that he will send the Assyrians against the deceitful nation, and will command them to carry away the spoils, and violently take the prey, not meaning that he will teach wicked and obstinate men to obey willingly, but that he will bow them to execute his judgments as if they did bear his commandments engraved in their minds. Whereby it appears that they were moved by the certain appointment of God. I grant that God does oftentimes work in the reprobate by Satan's service as a means, but yet so that Satan does his office by God's moving, and proceeds so far as is given him. The evil Spirit troubled Saul, but it is said that it was of God, that we may know that the madness of Saul, came of the just vengeance of God. It is also said, that the same Satan does blind the minds of the unfaithful: but how so, but only because the effectual working of error comes from God himself, to make them believe lies that refuse to obey the truth? After the first manner of speaking it is said, If any Prophet shall speak lyingly, I God have deceived him. According to the other manner of speech it is said, that he gives men into a reprobate mind: and to cast them into filthy desires, because he is the chief author of his own just vengeance, and Satan is but only a minister thereof. But because we must treat of this matter again in the second book, where we shall discourse of free or bound will of man, I think I have already shortly spoken so much as this place required. Let this be the sum of all, that forasmuch as the will of God is said to be the cause of all things, his Providence is thought the governor in all purposes and works of men, so as it shows forth her force not only in the elect, which are governed by the Holy Spirit, but also compels the reprobate to obedience.

Forasmuch as hitherto I have recited only such things as are written in the Scriptures, plainly and not doubtfully, let them that fear not wrongfully to slander the heavenly oracles, take heed what manner of judgment they take upon them. For if by feigned pretending of ignorance they seek a praise of modesty, what can be imagined more proudly done, than to set one small word against the authority of God? As I think otherwise, I do not like to have this touched. But if they openly speak evil, what do they prevail by spitting against the heaven? But this is no new example of waywardness, because there have been in all ages wicked and ungodly men, that with raging mouth barked against this point of doctrine. But they shall feel that thing indeed to be true, which long ago the Holy Ghost spoke by the mouth of David, that God may overcome when he is judged. David does by the way rebuke the madness of men in this so unbridled licentiousness, that of their own filthiness they do not only argue against God, but also take upon them power to condemn him. In the meantime he shortly admonishes, that the blasphemies which they vomit up against the heaven do not reach to God, but that he driving away the clouds of cavillations does brightly show forth his righteousness, and also our faith (because being grounded upon the word of God, it is above all the world) does from her high place contemptuously look down upon these mists. For first where they object, that if nothing happens but by the will of God, then are there in him two contrary wills, because he decrees those things by secret purpose, which he has openly forbidden by his law, that is easily wiped away. But before I answer it, I will once again give the readers warning that this cavilation is thrown out not against me, but against the Holy Ghost, which taught the holy man Job this confession: As it pleased God, so it came to pass. When he was spoiled by thieves, he acknowledged in the injury and hurt that they did him, the just scourge of God. What says the Scripture in other places? The sons of Eli obeyed not their father, because it was God's will to kill them. Also another prophet cries out, that God who sits in heaven does whatever he will. And now I have showed plainly enough that God is the author of all those things which these judges would have to happen only by his idle sufferance. He testifies that he creates light and darkness, that he forms good and evil, that no evil happens which he himself has not made. Let them tell me, I beseech them, whether he does willingly or against his will execute his own judgments. But as Moses teaches, that he who is slain by the falling of an axe by chance, is delivered by God into the hand of the striker: so the whole church says in Luke, that Herod and Pilate conspired to do those things, which the hand and purpose of God had decreed. And truly if Christ were not crucified with the will of God, from where came redemption to us? And yet the will of God neither does strive with itself, nor is changed, nor feigns that he wills not the thing that he will: but where it is but one and simple in him, it seems to us manifold, because according to the weakness of our understanding we conceive not how God in diverse manner wills and wills not one self thing. Paul, after that he has said, that the calling of the Gentiles is a hidden mystery, within a little after says further, that it was manifestly showed the manifold wisdom of God: because for the dullness of our understanding the wisdom of God seems to us manifold, or (as the old interpreter has translated it) of many fashions: shall we therefore dream that there is any variety in God himself, as though he either changes his purpose, or dissents from himself? Rather when we conceive not how God will have the thing to be done, which he forbids to do, let us call to mind our own weakness, and therewith consider that the light wherein he dwells, is not without cause called Inaccessible, because it is covered with darkness. Therefore all godly and sober men will easily agree to this sentence of Augustine, that sometimes man with good will wills that which God wills not. As if a good son wills to have his father to live, whom God will have to die. Again, it may come to pass, that man may will the same thing with an evil will, which God wills with a good will. As if an evil son wills to have his father to die, and God also wills the same. Now the first of these two sons wills that which God wills not, and the other son wills that which God also wills, and yet the naturalness of the first son does better agree with the will of God, although he wills a contrary thing, than the unnaturalness of the other son that wills the same thing. So great a difference is there what to will does belong to man, and what to God, and to what end the will of every one is to be applied, to have it either allowed or disallowed. For those things which God wills well he brings to pass by the evil wills of evil men. But a little before he had said, that the apostate Angels in their falling away, and all the reprobate, in as much as concerns themselves, did that which God would not, but in respect of the omnipotence of God, they could by no means so do, because while they did against the will of God, the will of God was done upon them. Whereupon he cries out: Great are the works of God, and ought to be sought out of all them that love them: that in marvelous manner the same thing is not done without his will which is also done against his will, because it could not be done if he did not suffer it: and yet he does it not against his will, but willingly: and he being good, would not suffer a thing to be done evil, unless for that he is omnipotent, he could of evil make good.

In the same manner is resolved — or rather vanishes away — the other objection: that if God not only uses the service of wicked men, but also governs their counsels and affections, he is the author of all wicked doings, and therefore men are undeservedly condemned, if they execute what God has decreed, because they obey his will. For it is wrong to confuse his will and his commandment together, which it appears by innumerable examples to differ far asunder. For though when Absalom abused his father's wives, it was God's will to punish David's adultery with that dishonor, yet he did not therefore command the wicked son to commit incest — unless perhaps you mean it in respect of David, as he speaks of the railings of Shimei. For when he confesses that Shimei rails at him by the commandment of God, he does not therein commend his obedience, as if that forward dog obeyed the commandment of God, but acknowledging his tongue to be the scourge of God, he patiently suffers to be corrected. And this is to be held in mind, that when God performs by the wicked that thing which he decreed by his secret judgment, they are not to be excused, as though they obeyed his commandment, which in deed of their own evil lust they do purposely break. Now how that thing is of God, and is ruled by his secret providence, which men do wickedly, the election of king Jeroboam is a plain example, in which the rashness and madness of the people is severely condemned, for having perverted the order appointed by God, and falsely fallen from the house of David, and yet we know it was his will that he should be anointed. Whereupon in the very words of Hosea there appears a certain show of repugnancy, that where God complained that that kingdom was erected without his knowledge, and against his will, in another place he says, that he gave the kingdom to Jeroboam in his rage. How shall these sayings agree: that Jeroboam reigned not by God, and that he was made king by the same God? Even thus, because neither could the people fall from the house of David, but that they must shake off the yoke which God had laid upon them; neither yet had God his liberty taken away, but that he might so punish the unthankfulness of Solomon. We see therefore how God, in not willing false breach of allegiance, yet to another end justly wills a falling away from their prince, whereupon Jeroboam beside all hope was by holy anointing driven to be king. After this manner does the holy history say, that there was an enemy raised up to spoil Solomon's son of part of his kingdom. Let the readers diligently weigh both these things, because it had pleased God to have the people governed under the hand of one king. Therefore when it was divided in two parts it was done against his will. And yet the division took beginning from his will. For surely, whereas the prophet both by words and ceremony of anointing did move Jeroboam when he thought of no such thing, to hope of the kingdom, this was not done without the knowledge or against the will of God, which commanded it so to be done; and yet is the rebellion of the people justly condemned, for as it were against the will of God, they fell from the posterity of David. In this manner it is also afterward further said, that where Rehoboam proudly despised the request of the people, this was done by God to confirm the word which he had spoken by the hand of Ahijah, his servant. Behold, how against God's will the sacred unity is torn asunder, and yet with the will of the same God ten tribes do forsake Solomon's son. Let us add another like example. Where the people consenting, yes laying their hands to it, the sons of Ahab were slain, and all his offspring rooted out. Jehu said indeed truly, that nothing of the words of God were fallen to the ground, but that he had done all that he had spoken by the hand of his servant Elijah. And yet not unjustly he rebukes the citizens of Samaria, for having put their hands to it. "Are you righteous?" says he, "If I have conspired against my lord, who has killed all these?" I have before (as I think) already declared plainly, how in one self work both the fault of man does bewray itself, and also the righteousness of God gloriously appears. And for modest minds this answer of Augustine shall always suffice: whereas the Father delivered the Son, and Christ delivered his body, and Judas delivered the Lord — why in this delivering is God righteous, and man guilty? Because in the same one thing which they did the cause was not one, for which they did it. If any be more troubled with what we now say, that there is no consent of God with man, where man by the righteous moving of God does that which is not lawful, let them remember what Augustine says in another place: "Who shall not tremble at these judgments, where God works even in the hearts of evil men whatever he will, and yet renders to them according to their deserts?" And truly in the falsehood of Judas, it shall be no more lawful to lay the blame of the wicked deed to God, because he himself willed him to be delivered, and did deliver him to death, than it shall be to give away the praise of our redemption to Judas. Therefore the same writer does in another place truly tell us, that in this examination God does not inquire what men might have done, or what they have done, but what their will was to do, that purpose and will may come into the account. They that think this hard, let them a little while consider, how tolerable their own waywardness is, while they refuse a thing witnessed by plain testimonies of Scripture, because it exceeds their capacity, and do find fault that those things are uttered, which God, unless he had known them profitable to be known, would never have commanded to be taught by his prophets and apostles. For our being wise ought to be no more but to embrace with humble willingness to learn, and that without exception whatever is taught in the holy Scriptures. As for those that do more frowardly outrage in prating against it, since it is evident that they babble against God, they are not worthy of a longer refutation.

A difficult question arises from other passages, where it is said that God bends and directs Satan himself, and all the reprobate, according to His will. Human reasoning can hardly grasp how God, working through them, could remain unstained by their guilt — and how, even in His common working, He could be entirely free from fault and yet justly condemn the instruments He uses. This is why some have devised a distinction between what God does and what He merely permits — because they thought the problem impossible to solve otherwise: that both Satan and all the wicked are so under God's hand and power that He directs their malice to whatever end He pleases, and uses their wicked deeds to execute His judgments. Their reluctance might perhaps be excusable — frightened off by the appearance of absurdity — were it not that they wrongfully resort to a false defense in order to shield the justice of God from blame. It seems unreasonable to them that God would by His will and command cause a man to be spiritually blind, and then punish him for that very blindness. So they escape the difficulty by arguing that this happens by God's permission, not by His will. But God Himself plainly declares that He does it, and thereby dismisses that evasion. It is proved by countless clear testimonies that men do nothing apart from God's secret command, and that all their deliberating is futile unless His secret direction establishes what He has already determined. That statement from the Psalm — that God does all that He wills — clearly applies to all human actions. If God is the definite appointer of war and peace, as the Psalm states, without exception — who would dare say that men move about blindly while God is unaware and standing idle? Particular examples make this even clearer. From the first chapter of Job we learn that Satan appears before God to receive his orders no less than the angels who willingly obey. The manner and purpose are different, but the result is the same: Satan cannot undertake anything except by the will of God. Though God may at first appear to give Satan only bare permission to afflict the holy man, the statement holds true: 'The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased God, so it has come to pass.' From this we gather that God was the author of Job's trial, of which Satan and the wicked Sabeans were merely instruments. Satan's aim was to drive the holy man to madness through despair. The Sabeans cruelly and wickedly invaded and robbed him of goods that were not theirs. Yet Job acknowledged that God had stripped him of all his possessions and made him poor, because it pleased God to do so. Therefore, whatever men or Satan himself may attempt, God holds the helm and turns all their actions toward the execution of His judgments. It was God's will that the false king Ahab be deceived: the devil offered himself for that service and was sent with a specific commission to be a lying spirit in the mouths of all the prophets. If the blinding and madness of Ahab was God's judgment, then the notion of bare permission is worthless. It would be absurd to say that a judge merely permits something to happen without also decreeing what he wants done and commanding his officers to carry it out. The Jews intended to destroy Christ, Pilate and the soldiers followed their violent desires — and yet in a solemn prayer the disciples acknowledged that all the wicked men did nothing except what God's hand and counsel had determined. Peter had already preached that Christ was delivered to be killed by the deliberate purpose and foreknowledge of God. As if to say: God, from whom nothing is hidden from the beginning, knowingly and willingly appointed what the Jews then carried out — just as in another place it is stated that God, who had foretold through all His prophets that Christ would suffer, fulfilled it in this way. Absalom defiled his father's bed with incestuous adultery and committed a detestable crime. Yet God declared this was His own work, saying: 'You did it secretly, but I will do it openly, and before the sun.' Jeremiah declares that all the cruelty the Chaldeans inflicted on Judah was the work of God — which is why Nebuchadnezzar is called the servant of God. God repeatedly declares that by His signal, by the sound of His trumpet, by His power and command, the wicked are stirred up to war. He calls the Assyrian the rod of His wrath and the axe He moves with His own hand. The destruction of the holy city and the ruin of the temple He calls His own work. David — not murmuring against God but acknowledging Him as a righteous judge — confessed that Shimei's cursings came by God's command, saying: 'The Lord commanded him to curse.' Throughout the sacred history we constantly find that whatever happens comes from the Lord — the departure of the ten tribes, the death of Eli's sons, and many similar events. Those who are reasonably familiar with Scripture can see that for brevity's sake I have cited only a few testimonies out of many — but they are enough to make plain that those who substitute bare permission for God's active providence are talking nonsense, as if God sat in a watchtower watching the chances of fortune, and His judgments depended on the will of men.

Solomon's statement that the heart of a king is turned wherever God pleases applies not just to kings but to all humanity — it is as if he said that whatever we conceive in our minds is directed to God's end by His secret working. And truly, if God did not work in the minds of men, it would make no sense to say that He takes away speech from the eloquent, wisdom from the aged, and understanding from the princes of the earth, causing them to wander where there is no path. Related to this is what we often read: that men are filled with fear when God causes that fear to take hold of their hearts. So David walked out of Saul's camp undetected, because a deep sleep from God had fallen on them all. Nothing could be stated more plainly than where God repeatedly declares that He blinds men's eyes, strikes them with confusion, makes them drunk with a spirit of deep sleep, drives them to madness, and hardens their hearts. Many people refer these acts to permission as well — as if, in abandoning the reprobate, God merely allowed Satan to blind them. But that solution is too shallow, since the Holy Spirit expressly states that they are struck with blindness and madness by God's just judgment. Scripture says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart — and also that He dulled it and strengthened it. Some try to explain these phrases away by pointing out that in another passage it says Pharaoh hardened his own heart, as if Pharaoh's own will were the sole cause. But there is no conflict at all: God moves a man to act, and the man also acts of his own accord — both are true, though in different ways. And I turn their own objection back on them. If hardening means only bare permission, then the actual impulse of stubbornness would not truly belong to Pharaoh. How weak and foolish would it be to interpret it as if Pharaoh merely suffered himself to be hardened? Scripture cuts off every such excuse. God says plainly: 'I will hold his heart.' Of the inhabitants of Canaan, Moses says they went out to battle because the Lord had hardened their hearts. The same truth is repeated by another prophet: 'He turned their hearts that they should hate His people.' Again, Isaiah says God will send the Assyrians against a deceitful nation and will command them to carry off spoils and seize prey — not meaning that He will teach wicked and stubborn men to obey willingly, but that He will bend them to execute His judgments as if His commands were engraved on their minds. This shows that they were moved by God's specific appointment. I acknowledge that God often works in the reprobate through Satan as an instrument — but Satan carries out his work only by God's direction and goes no further than he is permitted. The evil spirit that troubled Saul is described as coming from God, so that we understand Saul's madness was the result of God's just punishment. It is also said that Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers — but how, except that the powerful working of delusion comes from God Himself, to make those who refuse the truth believe lies? In keeping with the first manner of speaking, it is said: 'If any prophet speaks falsely, I, God, have deceived him.' In keeping with the second manner of speaking, it is said that God hands men over to a reprobate mind and casts them into filthy desires — because He is the chief author of His own just punishment, and Satan is merely His instrument. Since we will return to this subject in the second book, where we discuss the free or bound will of man, what I have said here is sufficient for now. Let this be the summary: since the will of God is said to be the cause of all things, His providence is understood to govern all the purposes and works of men — making its power evident not only in the elect, who are led by the Holy Spirit, but also in compelling the reprobate to serve His purposes.

Since everything I have cited so far comes plainly and directly from Scripture, those who are not afraid to slander the heavenly oracles should take careful note of the kind of judgment they are taking upon themselves. If they claim ignorance as a form of modesty, what could be more arrogant than setting a single human word against the authority of God? I have no interest in entertaining that approach. And if they speak openly against it, what do they gain by spitting at heaven? This is nothing new — in every age there have been wicked and ungodly men who raved against this point of doctrine. But they will find it true, as the Holy Spirit long ago declared through David, that God prevails when He is put on trial. David briefly rebukes the madness of men who, in their total lack of restraint, not only dispute with God based on their own sinfulness but even presume to condemn Him. He also notes that the blasphemies they hurl toward heaven do not reach God — rather, He dispels the clouds of their objections and makes His righteousness shine clearly. Our faith, grounded in God's word and standing above all the world, looks down from its high place and treats these objections with contempt. Their first objection — that if nothing happens apart from God's will, then God has two contradictory wills, because He secretly decrees what He has openly forbidden by His law — is easily answered. But before I answer, I remind readers again that this objection is aimed not at me but at the Holy Spirit, who taught Job to confess: 'As it pleased God, so it came to pass.' When thieves robbed Job, he recognized in their injury and harm the just chastisement of God. What does Scripture say elsewhere? The sons of Eli did not obey their father because God had determined to put them to death. Another prophet declares that God, who sits in heaven, does whatever He wills. I have now shown clearly enough that God is the author of all those things which these critics would have happen only by His idle permission. He declares that He creates light and darkness, forms good and evil, and that no disaster happens which He Himself has not brought about. I ask them plainly: does He execute His own judgments willingly or against His will? Just as Moses teaches that a man killed by the chance fall of an axe is delivered by God into the striker's hand, so the whole church in Luke confesses that Herod and Pilate conspired to do exactly what God's hand and purpose had decreed. And truly, if Christ had not been crucified by the will of God, where would our redemption come from? Yet God's will does not contradict itself, does not change, and does not pretend to will what it does not will. In God there is one single and simple will — but it appears to us as manifold, because our limited understanding cannot grasp how God can in different ways both will and not will the very same thing. Paul, after calling the calling of the Gentiles a hidden mystery, then says that the manifold wisdom of God has been clearly displayed through it. Because of our dullness, God's wisdom appears to us to be many-sided, or as the old translator rendered it, of many fashions. But does that mean we should imagine some variety in God Himself — as if He changes His purpose or contradicts Himself? Rather, when we cannot understand how God can will something to happen that He forbids us to do, we should remember our own weakness — and remember that the light in which He dwells is not without reason called inaccessible, for it is covered in darkness. All godly and sober people will therefore readily agree with this statement of Augustine: that sometimes a person wills with a good will what God does not will. For example, a good son may wish his father to live, while God has determined that the father will die. Conversely, a person may will the same thing as God, but with an evil will. An evil son may wish his father dead, and God may will the same thing — but for entirely different reasons. Now the first son wills what God does not will, and the second son wills what God also wills — and yet the loving desire of the first son is far more in harmony with the nature of God's will than the unnatural wish of the second son, even though the second son wills the same outcome. How great a difference there is between what it means for a man to will something and for God to will it — and to what end each will is directed, so as to be approved or condemned. For God brings about good ends through the evil wills of evil men. A little earlier Augustine had said that the fallen angels, and all the reprobate, as far as they themselves are concerned, did what God did not will — yet in respect to God's omnipotence, they could by no means truly act against it, because while they acted against God's will, God's will was being accomplished upon them. From this he exclaims: 'Great are the works of God, sought out by all who delight in them — for in a marvelous way the very thing done against His will is not done without His will, because it could not happen if He did not permit it; and yet He does not permit it against His will but willingly; and He, being good, would not allow evil to be done if He were not omnipotent enough to bring good out of evil.'

In the same way the other objection is answered — or rather dissolves on its own: that if God not only uses the service of wicked men but also governs their counsels and desires, then He is the author of all their wicked deeds, and men are unjustly condemned for carrying out what God has decreed, since they are only obeying His will. But it is wrong to confuse God's will with His commandment, which countless examples show to be very different things. When Absalom violated his father's wives, it was God's will to punish David's adultery with that disgrace — yet God did not therefore command the wicked son to commit incest. This can be understood in a different sense regarding David's own situation, as in his words about Shimei's cursing. When David said that Shimei cursed him by God's command, he was not commending Shimei's obedience as if that raging man had followed God's orders — rather, David recognized his tongue as God's instrument of chastisement and patiently accepted the correction. This point must be held firmly: when God accomplishes through the wicked what He has decreed by His secret judgment, those wicked people cannot excuse themselves as though they were obeying His command — for in reality they are deliberately pursuing their own evil desires and breaking that very command. The election of King Jeroboam illustrates plainly how an act can be governed by God's secret providence while still being wickedly done by men. In that event, the recklessness and madness of the people is sharply condemned for overturning the order God had established and treacherously abandoning the house of David — and yet we know it was God's will that Jeroboam be anointed. In Hosea there appears a surface contradiction: God complained that the kingdom was set up without His knowledge and against His will, yet in another place He says He gave the kingdom to Jeroboam in His anger. How can these statements agree — that Jeroboam did not reign by God, and yet that God made him king? Like this: the people could not have abandoned the house of David without throwing off the yoke God had placed on them, and yet God was not stripped of His freedom to punish Solomon's ingratitude in this way. We see, then, how God — while not willing the treacherous breaking of loyalty — still justly wills a departure from their king for a different purpose, so that Jeroboam, entirely without expectation, was moved by sacred anointing to become king. In this way the sacred history says that an adversary was raised up to strip Solomon's son of part of his kingdom. Readers should weigh both facts carefully: it pleased God to have the people governed under the hand of one king, and so when the kingdom was divided it was done against His will — and yet the division also originated from His will. When the prophet moved Jeroboam, who had no such thought, by both words and the ceremony of anointing to hope for the kingdom, this was not done without God's knowledge or against His will — for God commanded it to be done. And yet the people's rebellion is justly condemned because they abandoned the line of David as though acting against God's will. Similarly, when Rehoboam arrogantly rejected the people's request, Scripture says this was done by God to confirm the word He had spoken through His servant Ahijah. See how the sacred unity is torn apart against God's will, and yet at the same time ten tribes abandon Solomon's son by that same will. Here is another similar example. The sons of Ahab were killed and his entire family was wiped out with the people's consent and participation. Jehu rightly said that none of God's words had fallen to the ground and that God had done all He had spoken through His servant Elijah. And yet Jehu was right to rebuke the citizens of Samaria for having put their own hands to the deed, saying: 'Are you righteous? If I conspired against my lord, who killed all these?' I believe I have already explained clearly how in one and the same act both the guilt of man reveals itself and the righteousness of God shines gloriously. For thoughtful minds, this statement of Augustine will always be sufficient: the Father delivered the Son, Christ offered up His body, and Judas betrayed the Lord — so why in this one act of delivering is God righteous while man is guilty? Because even though they did the same thing, the reason for which each did it was entirely different. If anyone is still troubled by this — that there is no agreement between God and man when man does something unlawful at God's righteous direction — let them remember what Augustine says elsewhere: 'Who would not tremble at these judgments, where God works even in the hearts of evil men whatever He wills, and yet repays them according to their deserts?' In the treachery of Judas, it is no more legitimate to blame God for the wicked deed because He willed His Son to be betrayed and delivered to death, than it is to give Judas credit for our redemption. The same writer correctly tells us that in this judgment God does not examine what men could have done or what they have done, but what their will was — so that purpose and will come into the reckoning. Those who find this hard should consider how tolerable their own stubbornness really is — rejecting what is clearly attested in Scripture simply because it exceeds their understanding, and criticizing the very teachings that God would never have commanded His prophets and apostles to deliver unless He knew them profitable to be known. True wisdom is nothing more than humbly and willingly receiving, without exception, whatever the holy Scriptures teach. As for those who more obstinately rage against it, since it is plain they are railing against God, they deserve no further refutation.