Concurrence. The word concurrence means ‘working together’ and I am using it here to refer to the relationship between divine and human activity in the events of life. Or in other words, seeing that both God and human beings are active in the world, what is the relationship between their actions, do they act independently of each other, or do they act together? In the Bible God is always the primary actor. This means that he is always at work or nothing would happen. Conversely, human beings are always secondarily actors. As such their actions are real, and they are always responsible for what they do. But the distinction between primary and secondary actors means that they could not do a thing if God did not sustain them. It also means that there is no such thing as an action in which God is not involved.
At this point, however, we must be careful or it will appear as if God is responsible for bad actions as well as good ones. But this is never the case. The Bible never directly attributes sin or evil to God. It is always the direct action and responsibility of the one who actually sins. But just because God is not directly involved and is not guilty of wrongdoing does not mean that he is inactive. God is working simultaneously, but indirectly, to accomplish his purposes. As the God of providence his actions are concurrent with those of his creatures though he is always good, upright and holy.
The rest of "concurrence" in the next post...
1 comment:
How God can be guilt-free rather than less guilty as a necessary and indirect actor when we sin? I understand that the Bible never actually says God is responsible for human sin but logically if God permits sin because of His own concurrent agenda how could He not bear some degree of responsibility for human sin when you say "in the Bible God is always the primary actor" and "there is no such thing as an action in which God is not involved"? If God is not passive when we sin what is the nature of His action without which we couldn't sin?
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