Thursday, October 16, 2025

Predestination does not cause events (Bartley) Santamaria

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[These are the attempts of men to answer human logic with human logic – ed]

January 29, 1903 Signs of the Times

Brother Beebe (This refers to Benton Beebe):

I desire that you will explain in a communication that part of the articles set forth in the Fort Worth Council, where it says, “We believe God’s predestination is not the cause of our righteous acts,” as some of our brethren are bothered about it, and asked me to write to you. They seem to think God’s predestinating our righteous acts, and moving us to do righteousness by his Holy Spirit, is the same, and we feel that you can make it plain to us.

Yours in hope,

B. Rhodes

[As we had on our desk an article from brother D. Bartley, embracing an answer to the question of the brethren mentioned in brother Rhode’s letter, which is better than anything we could hope to write, we extract and append that portion of the letter. We will simply add that most of this confusion among the brethren on the subject of predestination of all things grows out of what they understand the expression to mean. Most of those who object to the expression, God's predestination of all things, if it could be explained to them that predestination is not causative any more than foreknowledge, their objection would cease, and in the following extract from brother Bartley’s letter, this is proven as clearly, it seems, as it is possible for language to make it. – ed.]

Fort Worth Council (Old School/Primitive Baptist), Oct. 21–23, 1902. (Brother Bartley was present)

The council was called by the OSB church in Fort Worth to address controversies—chiefly predestination/God and sin—and issued an “article” (statement) that is often quoted.

Here’s the wording as reproduced from the council record:

“That God has purposed that all righteousness shall come to pass by His authority and influence, and that all unrighteousness shall come to pass without His authority and influence; as is most explicitly set forth in the London confession of faith of the Baptists of 1689 and reaffirmed by them in the Philadelphia confession of 1742, upon the authority of the Holy Scriptures.”

“We do not believe that the Predestination of God is the cause which moves men to action either in righteousness or unrighteousness, but that all righteous acts are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and that all unrighteous acts are the works of the flesh under the influence of Satan.[1] Therefore, we do not believe that God is or can be either the author or approver of sin…”

Those two paragraphs are the heart of the Council’s article: it affirms God’s decree while denying He is the author or approver of sin, aligning itself with the 1689/Philadelphia Confessions.[2]

B. Rhodes, Signs of the Times, Woodville, Texas, 1.29.1903

Beloved Brethren In the Lord:

For as much as many among us recently have assumed and taught that God's predestination is itself causative[3] of each and every event which He predestinated, it behooves us to try this opinion by the Scriptures, for many of the brethren have accepted it as true, because some of the writers have thus confidently asserted. And it is this assumed premise or position, and the conclusion drawn from it, that his misled many of the brethren into an honest but mistaken notion that if God did predetermine any of the sinful acts and wicked conduct of men, then he himself is responsible[4] thereof because his predestination of any sin and wickedness makes predestination itself the cause thereof. Those who accept this as so are taught to regard the God of predestination with abhorrence, unless his predestination is confined strictly to holiness.

“God predestinated his chosen people unto the adoption of children to himself, but predestination did not adopt them. For their adoption is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus by his blood, by the life-giving Spirit of holiness, and by the resurrection from the dead. But predestination does not adopt them. For their adoption is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, by His blood, by the life-giving spirit of holiness, and by the resurrection from the dead. So it is not predestination that makes us holy and heavenly as the children of God, but it is the grace of God which reigns through righteousness unto us and in us.

“So also of all unrighteousness and wickedness, which God's all-comprehensive purpose sets limits to, as to the sea; His holy decree is not the cause thereof, but reigning sin is the cause.”

“So also, of all unrighteousness and wickedness, which God's all-comprehensive purpose sets limits as to the sea; his holy decree is not the cause thereof, but reigning sin is the cause.”

Because the predestination of anything, or of all things, establishes the unchangeable certainty of everything purposed or predestinated, it is therefore assumed by the critics of the unlimited purpose of God that he himself is the author[5] and his predetermined purpose is the cause of all the sin and wickedness embraced in His counsel and purpose or decree. To show how untrue this assumption is, it need only be mentioned that those critics themselves admit that the divine foreknowledge embraces all things, and that everything foreknown of God is absolutely certain and shall come to pass. For if the least thing which he foreknew might fail, then his attribute of omniscience of infinite knowledge of all things, would be destroyed, and ignorance and imperfection would attach to him; he would be dethroned and “his eternal power and Godhead” made to fall. Yet no one charges that infinite and immutable foreknowledge is the cause of all things foreknown and responsible for them, although it is as infallibly establishes the unfailing certainty of all things, as does the immediate purpose or decree of God.

Our answer to this declaration

“Your Hand and Your Plan”

Thesis. Scripture presents God as personally involved in the actions of people—both the beautiful and the brutal. We are under no obligation to explain any supposed contradictions to men. If God does not tell us we should not speak of it. He purposes events (Eph 1:11), uses agents (Isa 10:5–7), hardens and restrains (Exod 9:12; Gen 20:6), hands over and delivers up (Rom 1:24; Acts 2:23), and finally judges and saves through the very histories he ordains (Rom 9:17; Gen 50:20). The Bible insists on two rails: (1) God’s comprehensive sovereignty; (2) human moral responsibility. Deny either and you’re no longer reading the Bible but a comfort version of it.

God is not a distant clockmaker

The text never blushes to speak of God’s intimate governance:

He “works all things according to the counsel of his will.” (Eph 1:11)
“The lot is cast… but its every decision is from the LORD.” (Prov 16:33)
Kings’ hearts are watercourses in his hand. (Prov 21:1)
None can stay his hand or say “What have you done?” (Dan 4:35)

This is not bare permission; it is a wise, personal rule. He opens and closes wombs (Gen 29:31), sets boundaries for seas and empires (Job 38:11; Acts 17:26), and appoints the precise time and place of the cross (Acts 2:23; 4:27–28).

Case studies where God’s fingerprints are on messy history

Joseph and his brothers. Joseph says two true things at once: you meant evil; God meant good—the same act, two intentions, two moral agents (Gen 50:20; cf. 45:5–8). God’s purpose rides on human agency without dissolving it.

Pharaoh’s heart. The narrative alternates: Pharaoh hardens his heart (Exod 8:15, 32), and the LORD hardens Pharaoh (Exod 9:12; 10:20). Paul reads this as God raising up Pharaoh “that I might show my power in you” (Rom 9:17). Divine hardening is judicial: God hands a rebel further over to his chosen pride.

Assyria as a hired rod. God calls Assyria “the rod of my anger,” sent to chastise Zion—then condemns Assyria’s arrogance and punishes it (Isa 10:5–15). God uses wicked instruments without sharing their wickedness.

Job’s suffering. Satan strikes, Sabeans raid, wind destroys (Job 1–2). Job confesses, “the LORD gave, the LORD has taken away” and “shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”—and “in all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 1:21; 2:10). The narrator won’t let us sanitize providence; God is personally present even when creatures mean harm.

Ahab’s prophets. God permits a “lying spirit” to entice Ahab to his judgment (1 Kgs 22:19–23). This is morally discomforting—and biblically plain. God governs even the deceptions of the wicked to bring justice.

Judas and the cross. “The Son of Man goes as it has been determined,” yet “woe to that man” (Luke 22:22). Peter preaches Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23; cf. 4:27–28). The cross is the Bible’s canonical exhibit for personal providence over good and evil at once.

How Scripture says God is involved

The Bible uses a range of verbs for God’s involvement—each guarding his holiness while asserting his rule.

1. Purposes/decrees / appoints. God plans ends and means (Isa 46:9–10; Acts 4:27–28).

2. Hardens/blinds (judicially). He confirms the rebel in chosen obstinacy (Exod 9:12; John 12:39–40; Rom 11:7–8).

3. Restrains. “It was I who kept you from sinning against me” (Gen 20:6).

4. Hands over. God gives men up to their lusts (Rom 1:24, 26, 28). This is active judgment through letting sinners have their sin.

5. Sends/uses agents. He raises Cyrus (Isa 45:1–7), whistles for nations (Isa 7:18), and employs Assyria as a rod (Isa 10).

6. Sets bounds. “Thus far shall you come, and no farther” (Job 38:11). Even wrath must pay him tribute (Ps 76:10).

These verbs let us say God is personally involved without imputing evil to him.

The moral boundary lines

Scripture draws hard edges so we don’t accuse God:

God is light; in him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).
God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one (Jas 1:13).
He “does no wrong” (Zeph 3:5).
When evil happens, secondary causes—Satan, sinners, systems—supply the guilt; yet God’s rule is never suspended (Gen 50:20; Isa 10; Acts 2:23).

Call it biblical compatibilism if you like: God’s comprehensive, personal sovereignty and human culpability stand side by side without apology.

Why does God involve Himself even in dark histories

Judgment. Pharaoh, Assyria, Ahab—God’s nearness to their acts magnifies justice. They get exactly what their deeds deserve, at the time God appoints (Rom 2:5–6).

Discipline and purification. Israel’s exiles and Job’s furnace are managed pains (Amos 3:6; Lam 3:37–39; Job 23:10). God is not absent in our afflictions; he is at work.

Salvation. The cross is not God’s afterthought; it is the summit of his plan (Acts 4:27–28). The worst evil becomes the world’s only hope (Gen 50:20; Rom 8:28–32).

Answering the predictable objections

“If God plans all, he must be the author of sin.” Scripture refuses that inference. It distinguishes certainty from causality. Foreknowledge makes events certain without making God the doer (Acts 2:23; Rom 8:29–30). Likewise, decree: God’s hand and plan fix the story, while lawless men write the crimes (Acts 2:23).

“Then our choices aren’t real.” The Bible treats our will as fully real: Joseph’s brothers “meant” evil (Gen 50:20); Judas “betrayed” (Mark 14:10), Ahab “listened to lies” (1 Kgs 22:8, 22). Their accountability is not a show; judgment is genuine because their choices are sincere.

“This makes God remote.” Quite the opposite. The God of Scripture is nearer than our next breath (Ps 139). He numbers hairs (Luke 12:7), orders steps (Prov 16:9), and writes history with pierced hands.

Refuse the cartoon versions: a God too holy to touch history, or a God so sovereign he stains himself with sin. The Bible gives us the living God—holy, wise, personally governing—who ordains whatsoever comes to pass (Eph 1:11), uses even wickedness without endorsing it (Isa 10), and brings unsearchable good from freely chosen evil (Gen 50:20), climaxing at the cross (Acts 2:23; 4:27–28). That vision doesn’t solve every riddle; it anchors a life of worship and sobriety. Fear him, because he is near to everything. Trust him, because nail-scarred providence is the kind that saves.

God Is Not Under Law (Even the Ten Commandments)

Thesis: Scripture never places God “under” law. He is the Lawgiver (Jas 4:12), not a law-subject. The moral law reveals, in creaturely form, what God’s holy character requires of humans; it does not sit above God as a tribunal. God’s actions are perfectly righteous, not because a higher code constrains Him, but because He is righteousness Himself (Deut 32:4; 1 Jn 1:5).

This isn’t wordplay. It’s the Creator–creature distinction. The One who “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph 1:11) cannot be under a statute written for those He governs.

1) Law flows from God; it does not bind Him

God is the source of the law. “The LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver; the LORD is our king” (Isa 33:22). Nothing above God legislates to Him.
No external standard. If a law stood over God, that law would be god. Instead, God’s nature—holy, just, true—is the standard (Exod 34:6–7; Ps 11:7; Rev 15:3–4).
Not arbitrary either. This avoids the Euthyphro trap. God doesn’t call evil “good” by fiat; He commands what is good because He is good (Ps 119:68). The moral law expresses His character for creatures.

2) The Decalogue addresses humans; many commands don’t even apply to God

The Ten Commandments (Exod 20; Deut 5) regulate human worship and society. Several precepts are category-bound to creatures:

No other gods before Me / no images. God does not worship; He is the One worshiped (Isa 45:5).
Do not take the Name in vain. God swears “by himself” to condescend to our weakness (Heb 6:13–18); His truthfulness is intrinsic (Tit 1:2).
Sabbath rest. “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mk 2:27). God “rested” to set a pattern (Exod 20:11), yet He “neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Ps 121:4).
Honor father and mother. God has no parents; He is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Ps 90:2).
Do not murder. God is Owner and Judge of life: “I kill and I make alive” (Deut 32:39; 1 Sam 2:6). His taking of life is not murder; it is justice.
Do not steal. He cannot steal what already belongs to Him: “The earth is the LORD’s” (Ps 24:1; Job 41:11; Rom 11:35).
Do not bear false witness. God cannot lie (Heb 6:18; Tit 1:2). That isn’t because a higher statute restrains Him, but because deceit is contrary to who He is.
Do not covet. God lacks nothing and depends on no one (Ps 50:10–12; Acts 17:25).

The Decalogue, then, binds us; it reveals God but does not rule Him.

3) Scripture reserves “under the law” for creatures, never for God, although believers are free from being under the law!

“The law is laid down for the lawless and disobedient…” (1 Tim 1:9). Law targets sinners; God is light with no darkness at all (1 Jn 1:5).
Christ, as man, was “born of woman, born under the law” to redeem those under it (Gal 4:4–5). That clause underscores the point: the Son voluntarily took our place under the law in His human nature. The divine nature is not under law.

4) God’s covenants are self-binding promises, not superior laws over Him

When God swears an oath, He binds Himself to us by His own word (Gen 22:16–18; Heb 6:13–18). That is not external coercion; it is faithful condescension. He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim 2:13), so He will always keep His covenant—not because a code compels Him, but because He is faithful (Lam 3:22–23).

5) Personal involvement without subjection

A frequent objection: If God isn’t under law, can He do evil? Scripture answers by showing intimate providence with immaculate holiness:

God hardens and hands over (Exod 9:12; Rom 1:24), permits and restrains (Gen 20:6; Job 38:11), and uses human and demonic acts to accomplish righteous ends (Isa 10:5–12; Acts 2:23; 4:27–28).
Yet He remains blameless: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25). His holiness is unchangeable; the creature supplies the moral defect in sin (Jas 1:13–15).

6) Why this matters for worship, ethics, and Christ

Worship: We approach a God who is Lord of law, not a bigger citizen of a moral republic. That inspires fear and joy, not bargaining.
Ethics: Our duty is derived—“Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet 1:15–16). The law instructs and restrains us; God’s character anchors what it commands.
Christ: The gospel hinges on this distinction. The eternal Son entered our estate, came under the law, fulfilled it, and bore its curse for us (Matt 5:17; Gal 3:13; 4:4–5). If God were already under law, the Incarnation’s “under the law” would mean nothing.

Conclusion. God is not under any law, not even the Ten Commandments. He is the holy Lawgiver whose character the moral law reflects for creatures. He binds Himself only by His own promise; He governs all things personally without ever doing wrong. The right response is not to put God in the dock, but to put ourselves under His word, receiving the Christ who stood under the law in our place and now writes that law on our hearts (Jer 31:33; Heb 8:10).

Beebe and The View Presented By this Conference

“The doctrine of Absolute Predestination, when rightly understood, does not involve the idea of man’s acting involuntarily in sin; nor does it exonerate him from accountability.” [6]

“In the case of Joseph, we are taught that notwithstanding the foreknowledge and determinate counsel of God… men and devils act voluntarily in sin, without the least regard to the purpose or decree of God; of whose purpose or decree they are totally unconscious.”

“Even the wickedness of ungodly men is restricted by predestination, so that ‘the wrath of man shall praise him, and the remainder of wrath he will restrain.’ … For death and hell can do no more than his hand and counsel have determined shall be done.”[7]

“Does this make God the author of sin? … By no means. Against whom is it possible for God to sin? Is he amenable to any law above himself?…”[8]

(For context, the first two quotations are from his early “Absolute Predestination” editorials; the first piece is dated New Vernon, N.Y., Feb. 6, 1833, and the second in that series Mar. 19, 1834. )

[1] Here’s the spine of it—two texts, one theme: God is personally active in human willing without turning people into puppets.

Philippians 2:13 — “both to will and to do” (KJV)

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

Context first: Paul has just said, “work out your own salvation… with fear and trembling” (v.12). Then he explains the engine under that command: God is energizing in you (Greek ho energōn en hymin) the willing (to thelein) and the doing (to energein). This isn’t bare permission; it’s effective grace inside believers that creates holy wants and sustains holy acts. Human effort is real—your choices, your sweat—but the decisive cause of good willing is God’s ongoing work. That’s why sanctification is humble and hopeful: you act because God acts first and underneath.

Key takeaways:

· The verse addresses saints, not all humanity in general. It’s about sanctification—God bending redeemed affections toward obedience.

· The grammar pairs desire and deed: God doesn’t just help you do what you already wanted; he re-tools the want and then powers the walk.

Proverbs 21:1 — “He turns it whithersoever he will” (KJV)

“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”

Ancient image: irrigation channels (palgey-mayim) that a farmer cuts to direct water. God’s providence is like that toward rulers—swaying, steering, setting bounds—so that their choices serve his purposes. It doesn’t say kings feel coerced; they deliberate, decree, and are accountable. Yet over and through those choices, God guides outcomes precisely.

Key takeaways:

· This text is public providence, not private sanctification. It speaks to God’s governance of history and power.

· The metaphor signals real guidance without annihilating agency—like turning a stream, not yanking a marionette.

How they fit together (without logical hand-waving)

· Same Author, two arenas. In the church (Phil 2), God renews the will toward good; in the world (Prov 21), God rules the wills of even the mighty to accomplish his counsel.

· Voluntary ≠ autonomous. In both passages humans choose voluntarily, but those choices aren’t self-originating or sovereign. Good choices flow from grace at work; statecraft and even the schemes of rulers flow within providence’s channels.

· Holiness vs. authorship of sin. Phil 2:13 describes God causing holy willing in believers. Proverbs 21:1 describes God governing human willing at large. Scripture never crosses the line into making God the author of sin (Jas 1:13); instead it shows him permitting, restraining, hardening, or softening (Gen 20:6; Exod 9:12; Acts 16:14) so that what he has purposed comes to pass—while the moral quality of evil remains the creature’s.

[2] The 1902 Fort Worth Council minutes, with clear notes on what is and is not extant online.

Fort Worth Council (Old School/Primitive Baptists), Fort Worth, Texas — Oct. 21–23, 1902

Venue & purpose. A called council met “at, and at the request of, the Old School Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas” to address controversies then disturbing Primitive Baptists, first among them the dispute over “Absolute Predestination.”

Representation. The assembly “represent[ed] seven associations and six states.”

Delegates seated (roll as recorded). The council record “begins with the seating of the representatives of the various churches and associations,” explicitly naming Elder David Bartley of Lebanon, Ohio, among those seated (the full roll is not reproduced in the accessible online source).

Organization (officers). “The Council was duly organized by electing Elder J. H. Fisher, Moderator, and Elder J. R. Hardy, Clerk.”

Key adopted article (predestination & authorship of sin).

“We do not believe that the Predestination of God is the cause which moves men to action either in righteousness or unrighteousness; but that all righteous acts are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and that all unrighteous acts are the works of the flesh under the influence of satan [sic]. Therefore, we do not believe that God is or can be either the author or approver of sin, as we have been unjustly accused.”

Confessional alignment noted in the minutes. The council’s statement is presented as affirming “that God has purposed that all righteousness shall come to pass by His authority and influence, and that all unrighteousness shall come to pass without His authority and influence,” explicitly tying this to the 1689 London and 1742 Philadelphia Baptist Confessions. (This wording is given in the same published extract of the minutes.)

· Footnote (to the online published minutes extract):
“The Fort Worth Council, 1902,” The Remnant Magazine, s.v. articles, quoting the Fort Worth Council minutes (Oct. 21–23, 1902), Fort Worth, TX.

· Bibliography:
“The Fort Worth Council, 1902.” The Remnant Magazine. Quotation of the Fort Worth Council minutes (Fort Worth, TX, Oct. 21–23, 1902).

[3] When critics of Old School Baptist absolutism claimed, “Your doctrine makes man act involuntarily,” they confused necessity of certainty with necessity of compulsion—a classic category error Beebe and Trott constantly corrected.

1. The False Charge

The argument says:

“If God predestined every act, man can’t act voluntarily; he’s a puppet.”

That’s false because it smuggles in an assumption that certainty eliminates will. Old School Baptists never taught that. They distinguished between:

· Certainty of outcome (because of God’s decree)

· Mode of action (freely, voluntarily, according to the creature’s nature)

In Beebe’s words:

“Men and devils act voluntarily in sin, without the least regard to the purpose or decree of God; of whose purpose or decree they are totally unconscious.” (Signs of the Times, Feb. 6 1833)

So yes, their acts were certainly foreordained—but the motive power remained in themselves. God’s decree ensures the event, not the compulsion.

2. The Old School Baptist Distinction: Voluntary ≠ Autonomous

Beebe and his contemporaries held that the will of man is voluntary but not independent. A man acts from his own heart, desires, and affections—what Scripture calls the “motions of sin” (Rom 7:5). Those motions are spontaneous (“automatic,” in modern speech) but not coerced.
Trott wrote that men “act freely, according to their depraved wills;” their acts are free in that nothing external compels them, but not free in the sense of moral indifference.

So, when a sinner acts “automatically,” he does so because his heart is enslaved to sin (John 8:34). That’s voluntary slavery, not robotic programming.

3. The Biblical Pattern of Voluntary Yet Foreordained Acts

Scripture itself frames human acts this way:

· Joseph’s brothers: “Ye meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen 50:20). Two intentions, one event—voluntary men, sovereign God.

· Pharaoh: hardened his own heart, yet God hardened it (Exod 9:12).

· The crucifixion: “by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God… ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23).

The human choices are conscious and morally charged; the divine decree renders them certain.

4. Why the Objection Fails

The “involuntary puppet” claim misrepresents both theology and experience. Even naturalists admit much of human action is automatic—habitual, instinctual, pre-reflective—yet undeniably voluntary. OSB theology simply roots that reality in God’s eternal counsel without erasing the creature’s agency.

The critic’s logic confuses two levels of causation:

· First cause (God): ordains and upholds all things.

· Second causes (creatures): act from their own nature, will, and circumstances.

Old School writers called this “subordination without violation.” God’s sovereignty does not nullify the will; it sustains it.

In short, the claim that “Old School Baptists made men act involuntarily” is a straw man. They affirmed that every event is certain by decree, yet every human act is voluntary in character—arising from the creature’s own heart, which God governs but never puppeteers.

[4] Yes, according to human logic, he would be! But we are not measuring the almighty God by our human syllogisms.

[5] So there are things which God does not personally put his hand to (whatever that means); is he a spectator who watches his plan happenwill???

[6] Let’s unpack that comment. When critics of Old School Baptist absolutism claimed, “Your doctrine makes man act involuntarily,” they confused necessity of certainty with necessity of compulsion—a classic category error Beebe and Trott constantly corrected.