Sovereignty, Determinism, and a Ham Sandwich

The discussion of the sovereignty of God often manifests itself within the “prison of two ideas” fallacy. The prison of two ideas fallacy is that there are two and only two choices in a particular line of thought or action. In politics you'll hear things like, “you're either for immigration or you're a xenophobe.” “You're either pro-choice or you hate women.” “You'll start recycling or you want to kill all the polar bears.” The prison of two ideas is a very dangerous and fallacious place to live!

In the discussion of the nature of God, “sovereign” must be accurately defined. As a noun - “a supreme ruler.” As an adjective - “having ultimate power or authority.” God as God fits both definitions of the term - He is sovereign (Ps. 115:3; Rom. 11:33). The sovereign God created man in His own image and gave him dominion over His miraculous creation and gave him freedom of choice (Gen. 1:28; Ps. 115:16). Where many people fail in this discussion is dwelling within the prison of two ideas. “Either everything that happens has been predetermined by God from all eternity, or God is not God.” Determinism, according to britannica.com is “that all events in the universe, including human decisions and actions, are causally inevitable.” Theologically, it is the idea that every event, even every human action, has been predestined by God to occur and, as such, will necessarily take place.

God being sovereign means that He is the supreme ruler of all things. However, that is not the same thing as saying He has determined everything that ever has happened or will happen. For instance, did God determine, from all eternity, that I would go home today and eat a ham sandwich for lunch? That's what I did. While that is an extremely insignificant event, the prison of two ideas would have us believe that either (1) He did determine from all eternity that I would eat a ham sandwich for lunch on August 12, 2025 at 12:00 PM or (2) God is not God. Or, perhaps we can divorce ourselves from the prison of two ideas and understand both the sovereignty of God and the freedom of man in light of Scripture. The two thoughts are not mutually exclusive.

Here's where Biblical context comes into play. Verses will be cited, such as Ephesians 1:11, to state that God has determined all things that ever have or ever will happen. Was that Paul's point, or was he saying that, in terms of salvation, the WHERE and HOW people would be saved from sin was determined from all eternity? Remember, Ephesians 1:11 was not written in a vacuum to prove an often misdefined idea of sovereignty. Words gain their meaning from the context in which they are used. What about Acts 2:23? Doesn't that prove that God has determined all things that would ever happen in human history were predetermined by God in eternity? Remember, the prison of two ideas says it is either, yes, God has done that or God is not God. Or, could Peter's words as recorded in Acts 2:23 refer to the fact that God did indeed have a very specific plan to save man from sin and that His plan would include the death of His perfect Son? There is no doubt that God, from all eternity, did have a plan to save mankind from sin and that “in the fulness of time” God enacted that plan (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; Eph. 3:8-11). However, that is not the same thing as saying that God has determined all things that ever have or will ever happen - like my ham sandwich. Ecclesiastes 9:11 may help us here: “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.” The reality of both “time” and “chance” does not conflict with the all-supremacy of God. There is no need to reject one in order to accept the other.

God being sovereign does not mean that He always MUST do everything He CAN do. God was grieved in His heart that His creation became so sinful (Gen. 6:5). If we take sovereignty to mean that God, from all eternity brought about everything that ever happens, He predetermined that man would come to that state, man had no choice in the matter because it was predetermined from all eternity, and God then punished them for doing what He predetermined them to do from all eternity. If it was predetermined from all eternity, mankind had absolutely no choice in the way he conducted himself in Noah’s day. That is theological determinism, not sovereignty. While God is sovereign, man is free to choose - unless free doesn't really mean free. And this is where the double-talk often begins. “Well, man is free so far as God in His sovereignty has allowed him to be free.” Leviticus 26 loses all meaning. Deuteronomy 28 loses all meaning. Joshua 24:15 loses all meaning. Those invitations were extended to all Israel. However, with the misinformed idea of sovereignty that many have, only certain individuals could choose - and they could only choose because God predetermined that they would choose! And the dog begins chasing its own tail! Revelation 22:17 loses all meaning because, while the invitation appears to be extended to all, only certain ones whom God elected from all eternity will take of the water of life. Again, that is theological determinism, not sovereignty. God does not lose His sovereignty when man chooses to either obey or disobey Him. To say that man has free will is not to say that God is not sovereign. That is a false dilemma.

God is sovereign. God knows and sees all (Heb. 4:13). That is not the same as saying that He has predetermined everything that ever will happen. Nor is it to deny that God has indeed enacted His eternal plan throughout history. Where does my ham sandwich fit into God's eternal scheme of redemption? Maybe it doesn't. Perhaps I chose to eat it today and God's predetermined counsel had nothing to do with it. And yet, God is still sovereign.