Sovereignty a Definition

Return of the Prodigal, Pompeo Batoni (1773)¹

Sovereignty

Noun sov•er•eign•ty \ˈsä-v(ə-)rən-tē

A word Calvinism uses to manipulate God, telling Him what He can or cannot do. Thereby wresting sovereignty from God and appropriating it for itself.

Synonyms (before Calvinism): power, authority, jurisdiction, and "freedom of His will."





The Sovereign of Egypt said to Joseph, "Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." (cf. Genesis 41:44). Yet Calvinism will not allow God permission to delegate His authority, "or" the "freedom of will" to do whatsoever He wills!

In the Book of Beginnings "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion ... over all the earth."

In a chapter to follow, God delegated His authority to one man to save a remnant of the antediluvian world!

In the beginning of the book of Job, God delegated authority, not just to man, but to Satan! "The LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand."

And "again there was a day when the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life."

In the Wilderness, the LORD set before the children of Israel "a blessing and a curse," and the "freedom of will" to choose between the two. Such is ever the command to every soul under heaven to choose between "Life and Death."

In the wilderness of Judea Satan declared that the "power and the glory all the kingdoms of the world were delivered unto him to give to whomsoever he would give it," a contention the Lord did not challenge.

In Paul's Ephesian epistle we are reminded of the power and authority delegated to the "dark" "prince of the power of the air" over the "course of this world."

And as the prodigal, who longed to fill his belly with the husks which the swine were eating, coming to himself, said. "'I will' rise up and go to my father, and 'I will' say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee" (Luke 15:18, emphasis added).

Is it not God's right as Sovereign to delegate His "freedom of will" to souls created in His "

Triune image"? A question Calvinism has yet to answer, or perhaps more troubling, perhaps it has!

Calvinism 101

¹By Pompeo Batoni - [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4628046