What is relational sovereignty?

Christians wrestle with how to understand how God’s sovereignty works. On the one hand, the Bible clearly presents God as sovereign over all the universe. But, at the same time, it also presents God’s will and activity as being flexible and even acted upon by His creation.

We read the Bible and see that God could deliver His people from suffering, and sometimes He does, but much more often we are left to suffer in this life. How can we square that reality with the promise that God is a God of love?

Many Christians hold to a view of sovereignty commonly called “meticulous determinism,” or “meticulous providence.” But this view does not account for much of what we see in Scripture and it logically concludes with God being a monster Who makes sport of human beings.

A smaller number of Christians hold a view commonly called “open Theism,” where God is not actually sovereign.

Is there another way to understand what is revealed in Scripture but also squares with the problem of suffering?

Relational sovereignty offers the way.

Find the rest of this study in Ecclesiastes 9:11-10:1 at:

Look On The Blight Side (Ecclesiastes 9:11-10:1)

Full references can be found in the sermon notes.

References for quotes and points found in this excerpt are:

Roger Olsen – A Relational View Of God’s Sovereignty

A Relational View of God’s Sovereignty

Does the Open View Undermine God’s Sovereignty?

Does the Open View Undermine God’s Sovereignty?

Phil Noordmans – Relational Sovereignty: A View That Makes Room for Prayer