Yes, surely the wicked actions of men have a place in God’s eternal purpose. The Bible makes that abundantly clear. Wicked men may not think they are serving God’s purposes: but they are serving His purposes all the same, even by the most wicked of their acts.
At that point, however, serious questions might seem to arise. If wicked actions of wicked men have a place in God’s plan, if they are foreordained of God, then is man responsible for them, and is not God the author of sin?
To each of these questions the Bible returns a very unequivocal answer. Yes, man is responsible for his wicked actions; and No, God is not the author of sin.
That man is responsible for his wicked actions is made so plain from the beginning of the Bible to the end that it is quite useless to cite individual proof texts. But it is equally clear in the Bible that God is not the author of sin. That is clear from the very nature of sin, as rebellion against God’s holy law. It is also expressly taught. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, says the Epistle of James: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts He any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
J.G. Machen in The Christian View of Man, p. 43
G. Mark Sumpter
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