TWOGATBWOM: The Nature of the Divine Sovereignty, Jack Cottrell

I do agree with one thing that Cottrell says about Calvinists and divine sovereignty: consistent calvinism cannot adequately and biblically reconcile free will with divine sovereignty. There is no reconciling free will with divine sovereignty. Scripture explicitly teaches God's sovereignty over His creation and man's desires , and only implicitly seems to assume man's free will.

The main justification for a biblical notion of free will is, "God would not command us and hold us accountable to His commands if we were not free to obey them". This makes complete sense. However, what makes sense and what God does do not always mesh. Paul obliterates this notion in Romans 9:

“Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?

In reconciling two exclusive ideas, one taught explicitly and one explicitly denied, I hold to God's absolute sovereignty and deny man's free will.