Sort of Sovereign

In 1 Timothy 6:15 Paul refers to God as "He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords." The "only Sovereign." The Bible claims that God is Sovereign. And, in fact, most Christians agree on that. They just disagree (sometimes wildly) on what it means. There are all sorts of "sovereign."

On one end of the spectrum there is the "None" version. "No, He's not Sovereign. Not at all." Generally that would be the atheist's view, but I've heard it from a few self-professed Christians. At the far other end of the spectrum there is the "full Sovereign" version, where humans have no choices and no input. God causes and controls all things and any sort of "free will" or choices or the like are pure illusion. It's called fatalism. Fatalism is the view that human beings are powerless to do anything other than what they actually do. I've certainly heard that from some Christians as well. Then there are the middle ground views. One says that God sovereignly surrendered His Sovereignty to humans, at least to some degree. This, perhaps, is the most popular. So God wants to accomplish some things, but is dependent on human free will to accomplish it. Without it, He just can't. The other side of the middle ground is that God is Sovereign in the sense that He allows humans limited free will and allows those things that contradict His commands (a type of will) as long as He can use it. Of course, there are lots of nuanced versions in the middle. So ... which is it? What sort of Sovereign is "He who is the blessed and only Sovereign"?

One way to answer that is from philosophy. So we debate about "free will," what it means, what it doesn't mean. We debate about what God is and is not allowed to do. We dicker over details. Perhaps there are some valid points in there, but wouldn't it be better if we went to God's word? We have what Scripture says about God and nature (e.g., Psa 147:8-9, 14-18; Psa 148:1-12; Job 9:5-10; Job 26:7-14; Job 37:2-24; Job 38:8-41). We have what Scripture says about God and our choices (e.g., Psa 33:10-11; Prov 20:24; 19:21; 21:1) God even claims to make people deaf or dumb or blind (Exo 4:11). The Bible says that God planned and predestined the murder of His own Son (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; Isa 53:10). In short, according to God's word, He works all things after the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11; Psa 115:3; Job 42:2). On the other hand, we clearly have choices (e.g., Josh 24:15; Job 34:4; Prov 1:29; etc.). And we know that God does not cause sin (James 1:13).

So, what sort of sovereignty do you find in Scripture? Or is your view of God's sovereignty based on philosophy and reason rather than Scripture? How well does your view of God as sovereign line up with the Bible's view? Questions we should ask ourselves.