Necessary

Acts 23:11 (ALT) – On the following night, the Lord stood by [Paul] and said, “Take courage! As you testified about me in Jerusalem, so also it is necessary to testify about me in Rome.”  

  

Does God cause everything that happens or do our human decisions and actions determine the future? This is one of the great mysteries of human history for people of faith. Scholars, leaders, and ordinary people have debated this for millennia. If we believe that God is all powerful and guiding the world toward a certain conclusion, it is hard to see how our actions can make a difference. Yet, as we look around us, we see that many things happen because we and others choose to act that seem like they would not happen otherwise.

 

This verse above contains a three letter Greek word that powerfully holds this mystery in place: dei. I translated it as “necessary” here, because the word carries the idea that God has willed something to happen in the future without clearly stating whether it is a human’s responsibility to make it happen. In other words, “Paul, it might happen anyway, or you might be a part of making it happen, but this has to happen: You will testify about me in Rome.”

 

Luke, the writer of Acts, wants his readers to know there is no question that Jesus gave Paul this message. It was necessary for Paul to speak about Him in Rome. Was this a command or a prediction? Dei could convey either. As I read the rest of Acts, though, I believe Paul perceived this as both God’s sovereign will and Paul’s personal responsibility.

 

In Acts 25:11, while on trial before Festus, the Roman Governor of Palestine, Paul seized the opportunity given him as a Roman citizen and appealed to Caesar. This was his decision and it guaranteed fulfillment of Jesus’ “necessary” future event. We find out in the next chapter, Paul would not have had to go to Rome because of the Roman law (Acts 26:31-32), but his appeal meant he was going anyway. This would seem to indicate Paul’s decision is what got him to Rome.

 

Yet, another visit, this time from an angel, in Acts 27:23-24, shows God intervened to prevent certain shipwrecked destruction of the ship Paul was on. Paul had no choice in this outcome, whether for the storm or the saving. He tried to get the crew to stay for the winter on Crete, but the captain was not willing to listen to a lowly prisoner. A late season storm blew the ship far off course and the experienced sailors expected to sink until the angel’s message brought them comfort and hope, using that same Greek word, dei: “You must stand before Caesar.”

 

Paul and everyone else on the ship survived and arrived on the island of Malta before making the final leg of the journey to Rome and making the “necessary” happen. So, who did it? Was it God? God’s intervention certainly saved them all from sinking at sea, but what about Paul? There is no question his choice to appeal to Caesar at the proper moment was part of what got him to Rome. In a mysterious way we cannot fully understand with our limited human perspective, both divine providence and the action of human will determined a future outcome.

 

We see mysteries like this throughout the Bible, and I believe it is still true today: Is God sovereignly at work? Yes! Do our individual decisions determine much of what happens to us? Indeed! How do these seemingly incompatible realities work together? I do not fully understand all of this in spite of a lifetime serving, loving, and studying God and His word, but I do know God’s ways are far above mine. (Isaiah 55:8-9) I know He is at work in ways I cannot see, but I also know His providence does not replace my responsibility. I will trust God, and I will act when I can, knowing God will ensure the necessary will happen whether through or beyond my action.