Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

will”; and Ezra 6:22, that Jehovah “had turned the heart of the king of Assyria” unto
Israel. In Deut 8:18 Israel is reminded of the fact that it was Jehovah that gave it power
to get wealth. More particularly, it is also evident from Scripture that there is some kind
of divine co-operation in that which is evil. According to II Sam. 16:11 Jehovah bade
Shimei to curse David. The Lord also calls the Assyrian “the rod of mine anger, the staff
in whose hand is mine indignation,” Isa. 10:5. Moreover, He provided for a lying spirit
in the mouth of the prophets of Ahab, I Kings 22:20-23.
2. ERRORS THAT SHOULD BE AVOIDED. There are several errors against which we
should guard in connection with this doctrine.
a. That it consists merely in a general communication of power, without determining the
specific action in any way. Jesuits, Socinians, and Arminians maintain that the divine
concurrence is only a general and indifferent co-operation, so that it is the second cause
that directs the action to its particular end. It is common alike to all causes, quickening
them into action, but in a way that is entirely indeterminate. While it stimulates the
second cause, it leaves this to determine its own particular kind and mode of action. But
if this were the situation, it would be in the power of man to frustrate the plan of God,
and the First Cause would become subservient to the second. Man would be in control,
and there would be no divine providence.
b. That it is of such a nature that man does part of the work and God a part. The co-
operation of God and man is sometimes represented as if it were something like the
joint efforts of a team of horses pulling together, each one doing his part. This is a
mistaken view of the distribution of the work. As a matter of fact each deed is in its
entirety both a deed of God and a deed of the creature. It is a deed of God in so far as
there is nothing that is independent of the divine will, and in so far as it is determined
from moment to moment by the will of God. And it is a deed of man in so far as God
realizes it through the self-activity of the creature. There is interpenetration here, but no
mutual limitation.
c. That the work of God and that of the creature in concurrence are co-ordinate. This is
already excluded by what was said in the preceding. The work of God always has the
priority, for man is dependent on God in all that he does. The statement of Scripture,
“Without me ye can do nothing,” applies in every field of endeavor. The exact relation
of the two is best indicated in the following characteristics of the divine concurrence.
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