“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”
The context is in regard to the judgments of God, in terms of the plagues and diseases (Deuteronomy 29:22), the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim (v.23), and the prophecy that God will do the same to Israel, for having forsaken their covenant with the Lord who led them out of Egypt. (v.25) “Why has the LORD done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?” Answer: because “they went and served other gods.” (v.26) “Therefore, the anger of the LORD burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book.” (v.27) The result is that “the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.” (v.28) The conclusion at v.29 is that the secret things (i.e. these judgments) are God’s concern and that man’s business is to obey Him.
You could argue from vv.3-5 that God’s business also includes hardening and blinding the disobedient: “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.” This is reminiscent of Isaiah 6:10 and Isaiah 65:2.
God reveals some things to us but not all. The things which are revealed and the things which are left secret are not necessarily in contradiction. The relevance to Calvinism, though, is that Calvinists use Deuteronomy 29:29 as a tool to deal with Bible verses which appear to contradict Calvinism. For instance, God says that He would get more pleasure if the wicked would turn from their sins and live (Ezekiel 18:23, 33:11), but Calvinists say that this would result in an unfulfilled desire in God (if people He wanted to see saved but refused and perished), so this passage must only reflect a lesser desire, and God must have a “secret will” whereby He more greatly desires their judgment and destruction. So, ask Calvinists to explain from the context how the things revealed and the things kept secret are in contradiction to one another. If they don’t contradict—indicating lesser desires and greater desires—then how does that help Calvinists resolve Bible verses which contradict Calvinism?
If God has a “revealed will” whereby He wished to express a sense of omni-benevolence toward humanity, but then also a “secret will” which damned most people from before their birth—before they ever did anything good or bad—then what would be the point of those two wills? Would it be for the purpose of making God seem more gracious than He actually is—according to Calvinism? In non-Calvinism, God really is gracious toward all humanity, by suffering on a Cross for all humanity. The inherent problem with a theology that expresses the type of deterministic sovereignty shown in Calvinism is that it erodes the goodness of God, and so it make it seem better and more appealing; Calvinists turn to a “revealed will” which portrays God in a more positive light, but which is undone by the “secret will.”
What do Calvinists believe?
John Calvin: “Although nothing is done in this world except by the secret governing providence of God, to use this as an excuse and say that nothing happens without His approbation is intolerable blasphemy. What foolishness it is to seek in a deep labyrinth for the distinction between right and wrong which the law has plainly and distinctly set before our eyes. The Lord, as I have said, does indeed have His own hidden counsel, by which He orders all things as He pleases; but because it is incomprehensible to us, we should know that we are debarred from a too curious investigation into it.”671
Our reply:
However, the context doesn’t indicate that the “secret things” refer to Calvinistic determinism. Nonetheless, John Calvin imagines a “hidden counsel” and “secret governing providence” involving exhaustive meticulous determinism, without which “nothing is done in this world” and whereby He “orders all things as He pleases.” This is philosophy imposed upon Scripture. Ironically, John Calvin contradicts himself by claiming on the one hand it is “incomprehensible to us” and we are “debarred from a too curious investigation into it,” while on the other hand positively identifying it as exhaustive divine determinism. If it’s a secret, how does he know the secret? It would have been wiser if John Calvin had debarred himself from assuming that the “secret things” referred to Calvinistic determinism.
What do Calvinists believe?
Mark Kielar: “You can’t stand there stagnant in disputing your conversion or your election, if you’re sincere. Just get down to repenting and believing. Cry to God for converting grace. And stick to the things that God has revealed to you, because as Deuteronomy 29:29 puts it: ‘The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.’”672
Our reply:
However, the context doesn’t indicate that the “secret things” refer to a Calvinistic election. Moreover, by “converting grace,” that is meant to indicate Calvinism’s Irresistible Grace, though in Calvinism, one must already be granted a “converting grace” in order to have the desire to cry out and ask for it. This is what happens when Calvinists mix evangelism with Calvinism—their evangelism ends up contradicting their Calvinism, which is a good thing.
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671 Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, translated by Ross Mackenzie (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), 162, emphasis mine.
672 Mark Kielar, How Do I Know If I’m One of God’s Elect?, 8:27-8:59. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RClNArrlt7A.
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
