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The Sovereignty Of God And The Responsibility Of Man
In The Story Of Rahab

By Glenn Davis

The story of Rahab offers a beautiful illustration of God's sovereignty and human responsibility.  This has been a much-debated topic.  Those who emphasize God's sovereignty must guard against the temptation to be fatalistic.  Scripture is clear that we are responsible for our actions and decisions.  On the other hand, those who emphasize human responsibility must guard against the temptation to make God less than who He is - making Him controlled or manipulated by human actions.  The Scripture is also absolutely clear that God is God and can and does according to His Own will, and none can oppose Him.  While we, as finite human beings, can never fully understand the infinite God and His ways, we can find the Truth He has revealed.  And He has revealed both that He is sovereign and that we are responsible.

Let’s look at this through the historical story of Rahab.  First, we will look at it from the perspective of the Sovereignty of God, and then from the perspective of human responsibility.

The Sovereignty Of God
Perspective

God chose Rahab as a daughter before the dawn of time [Eph. 1:4-6].  Before the worlds were even created, God was looking at her.  While she was trapped in a heathen society enjoying the pleasures of sin, the Holy Spirit was at work moulding her heart and opening her eyes.  Since not one drop of Christ’s blood can be wasted, God needed to reach Rahab.

When the timing was perfect [Gal. 1:15-16] God sent two spies into Jericho to reach her.  The spies thought they were there to find weaknesses in the city’s defences.  God knew that was pointless - He was going to knock down the walls.  Their real mission was to find Rahab and give her the opportunity to escape destruction.  We are not told how they ended up on Rahab’s doorstep, but it was according to God's sovereign will.  

In addition, God willed that someone spotted the spies and figured out what they were up to.  If there had been no danger, they would have quietly slipped out of the city, taken a useless report back to Joshua, and missed their real mission.  It was vital that they met with Rahab and that she had the opportunity of helping them.

The Holy Spirit had worked on Rahab’s heart so that when the spies came knocking at her door, she was ready to help them.  At the risk of her life, she first hid them and then deceived their pursuers.  She then advised the spies on how to avoid capture and, after securing their promise to save her and her family, helped them escape.

So we see that the Sovereign God was at work, choosing Rahab, softening her heart, opening her eyes, and orchestrating her deliverance.

The Human Responsibility
Perspective

From a human responsibility perspective, no one in this historical story was forced to act against their will.  They all made choices based on what they desired or thought was best.

The king of Jericho and his people knew about the power of the Israelite’s God and that they were preparing to invade the land, and they were afraid.  But they chose to express their fear in resistance - not surrender or flight.  They trusted their gods and their walls and prepared for battle.  In this, we see how they could be responsible for their actions: they had the physical ability to make the right choice, but their moral commitment to evil would always prevent them from making it.

Joshua chose to send the two spies into Jericho.  He did not know of God’s plan for the walls, so it made perfect military sense to him to try and get some "intel" on what they were facing.  In ancient warfare, conquering a well-defended city could take years.  The more they knew, the better.  He freely chose to risk the lives of two of his men for this information.  

The spies, of course, chose to go into the city, and somewhere along the line they chose to seek refuge at Rahab’s house.  Perhaps they considered it would seem natural for two strangers in the city to go to a known harlot’s house, and perhaps the fact that it was on the city wall, with the potential of giving them another avenue of escape, played in their decision…but it was their decision.

Rahab also had to make her own decisions.  She had to decide whether to reject the only society she had known, join a strange people, and serve their God.  She had to decide to risk her life in protecting the spies.  She also chose not to rely simply on their “good will,” but made them promise to save her and her family. To receive her deliverance, she had to choose to follow their instructions exactly…or no deal.

So we see that everyone made the decisions they thought were best for themselves.  God's sovereignty did not override their will or their responsibility, yet God’s will was accomplished.  

Our
Perspective

Someone has said, “We need to live as if everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on us.”  There is a kernel of truth there.  As Christians, we can walk out into life confident that the Sovereign God is in control.  Nothing can happen to us that He does not allow for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God and our benefit.  We can launch out in faith [not presumption] and take risks because we know and trust God's sovereignty.

On the other hand, we cannot excuse inactivity, laziness or fearfulness with the idea that since God is in control, we don’t have to do anything.  We have the ability and responsibility to discern God's will and live according to it.

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