Concerning the Calvinist appeal to Isa 10:5-15 by Bruce Ware et al.
Most
proponents of libertarian freedom agree that God can bring about events he has
predicted/foretold by means of the free actions of his creatures, but they do not
affirm that the only way he can do so is by causally determining those free actions.
. . . I have often used Habakkuk’s prophecy about God’s use of the Babylonians
to judge Israel as evidence of my own view of providence, which combines
meticulous divine sovereignty with libertarian human freedom. After Habakkuk
complained about the sinfulness of Israel and God’s seeming inactivity, God
responded by telling him that he himself will do something so incredible, so unfathomable,
that Habakkuk would not believe it if he had not heard it directly from God
(Hab 1:5). God will raise up the Babylonians to judge Judah (1:6-11a) but will
then judge them for their impetuousness (v. 6b), self-reliance (v. 7), violence
(v. 9), and haughtiness (vv. 10-11). God can use the Babylonians to judge and
correct his people (v. 12), but he cannot look favorably upon evil (v. 13). In
all this, I am sure, Ware would agree with me, but I take God’s displeasure
with the Babylonians to indicate that he had nothing to do with their choices,
actions, and desires. Although he knew they would attack the Israelites in the
circumstances that prevailed, he did not necessarily begin a causal chain that
would result in their developing so that they would act in that manner.
Further, I hold that God may have been unable to prevent the Babylonians’
actions without violating their freedom (though that was certainly his prerogative).
I doubt Ware can say the same thing, since Calvinist thought characteristically
sees God as the starting point for the chain of causes leading to human
actions, and typically affirms that God could have ensured that persons develop
differently so that they would (compatibilistically) freely act differently. (John
Laing, “Determinism and Human Freedom,” in Calvinism: A Biblical and
Theological Critique, ed. David L. Allen and Steve M. Lemke [Nashville,
Tenn.: B&H Academic, 2022], 393-94)
