God works around human freedom

The other day, I came across an interesting quotation from St John Chrysostom. He is trying to make sense of the disagreement between St Paul and St Barnabas over whether or not to reinstate John Mark as a companion on their missionary travels. And he says,

In many things they acted upon their human judgment, for they were not sticks or stones. (Homily 34 on Acts 15)

His point is that even the apostles did not have a reliable understanding of God’s will for their lives. This contrasts sharply with the determinism that has crept into some expressions of Christianity (via Augustinianism and Calvinism).

The aftermath of this blazing row between Paul and Barnabas is that they go their separate ways: Barnabas takes Mark with him to Cyprus, while Paul sets off for Syria and Cilicia with Silas. But as Chrysostom points out, this disagreement, far from hindering the Church’s mission, actually serves to spread the gospel.

We are not pawns pushed around on the chessboard of life by God. And our failures and sins certainly do not condemn us living God’s second best for us (a view that is regrettably only too common among evangelicals and charismatics). On the contrary, God adapts to our foibles and inexorably draws the cosmos towards its eschatological fulfilment. If you fancy a musical metaphor, think of God as the leader of a jazz ensemble rather than the conductor of a symphony orchestra.