Deuteronomy 29:29
Deuteronomy 29:29 (see also Matthew 13:33)
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.
4-Point Calvinist, Ron Rhodes: “The primary emphasis in Deuteronomy 29:29 is that God has revealed to Israel precisely what Israel needed to know, and Israel was responsible to obey. Some things, however, Israel did not need to know (‘secret things’).” (Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses, p.50, emphasis mine)
Going a step further, remember that this is something that did not belong to them, but to the Lord. Now if Calvinists wish to assume that the secret things spoken of here was a cryptic reference to Calvinism, and if Calvinism is the Gospel (according to Charles Spurgeon), then God would be saying that the Gospel belongs to the Lord, in contrast to the revealed things that belong to us. That can’t make sense.
Jesus states: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.” (Matthew 13:33)
Gordon Robertson: “Do you ever make bread? Pizza dough? Anything like that? What are you supposed to do? You’re supposed to put the leaven in it. You’re supposed to activate it. You’re supposed to mix it together. You’re supposed to roll it into a ball, and then you’re supposed to put it in a dark place and let it rise. Then do you go check it? If you do, you’re going to mess it up. So it’s secretly in there, leavening. It’s secretly working its magic, doing its thing, until the whole loaf rises. And so Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is like this. There is a secret work going on, and the curious thing is God invites us to participate in that work in a variety of ways.” (The Power of an Overcoming Church)
Question: What are “secret things” described in the Bible?
Answer: There are the secret things of heaven, which are unlawful for a man to speak (1st Corinthians 2:7-9; 2nd Corinthians 12:4), and the mystery of the ages which has now been revealed as God indwelling man. (Romans 16:25-27; Colossians 1:26)
Question: What are the “secret things” in this context?
Answer: It doesn’t specifically say, although the context is regarding 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.
Question: What are the “things revealed” in this context?
Answer: It doesn’t specifically say, although there is mention of covenants being made and warnings issued regarding obeying the Lord and not following foreign gods.
Steven Hitchcock: “The Calvinist makes the things revealed, that belong to us, things that are secret and that are no longer known.” (Recanting Calvinism, p.266)
Here it is in action:
Calvinist, Erwin Lutzer: “The revealed will was that all men be saved, but the hidden will was that the greater part of mankind be damned.” (The Doctrines That Divide, p.195, emphasis mine)
Calvinism teaches that whereas God’s revealed will is that He is not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance (2nd Peter 3:9), His secret will is that many should perish and that only a few come to repentance. Arminianism, on the other hand, teaches that God’s will is not always done on earth, in fact, rarely done on earth, as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10), but that someday, it will, on the day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:10-11), when righteousness reigns and the meek inherit the earth.
“Secrets things” and “things revealed”
- Calvinism: Contradictory
- Arminianism: Complimentary
Here is the Calvinistic explanation of the hidden counsel of God, otherwise known as the secret will:
John Calvin cautions: “Let us heed the simplicity of Scripture with more attention and respect, in case our over-ingenious philosophizing leads us, not to heaven, but rather, to the bewildering labyrinths of the depths beneath.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, Matthew, Mark and Luke, Vol. III, James and Jude, p.331, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “We have no reason to ask what God decreed before the creation of the world in order to know that we have been elected by Him, but we find in ourselves a satisfactory proof of whether He has sanctified us by His Spirit and enlightened us to faith in His Gospel. The Gospel is not only a testimony to us of our adoption, but the Spirit also seals it, and those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God (Rom. 8:14), and he that possesses Christ has eternal life (I John 5:12). We must note this carefully, so that we may not disregard the revelation of God, with which He bids us be satisfied, and plunge into an endless labyrinth with the desire of seeking revelation from His secret counsel, the investigation of which He compels us to abandon. We are, therefore to be satisfied with the faith of the Gospel and the grace of the Spirit by which we have been regenerated. By this means we refute the depravity of those who make the election of God a pretext for every kind of wrong-doing, for Paul connects it with faith and regeneration in such a way that he would not have us measure it by any other standard.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, p.410, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “For it is not right that man should with impunity pry into things which the Lord has been pleased to conceal within himself, and scan that sublime eternal wisdom which it is his pleasure that we should not apprehend but adore, that therein also his perfections may appear. Those secrets of his will, which he has seen it meet to manifest, are revealed in his word--revealed in so far as he knew to be conducive to our interest and welfare. … But since both piety and common sense dictate that this is not to be understood of every thing, we must look for a distinction, lest under the pretense of modesty and sobriety we be satisfied with a brutish ignorance. This is clearly expressed by Moses in a few words, ‘The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever,’ (Deut. 29:29). We see how he exhorts the people to study the doctrine of the law in accordance with a heavenly decree, because God has been pleased to promulgate it, while he at the same time confines them within these boundaries, for the simple reason that it is not lawful for men to pry into the secret things of God.” (The Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 21, Section 1, emphasis mine)
Calvin warns that too much investigation into Calvinistic decrees results in an “endless labyrinth” of madness, which God, who calls us to come reason with Him (Isaiah 1:18), simultaneously, allegedly compels us to “abandon” investigation into His secret will, in order to protect our spiritual sanity. Calvin bids us, “be satisfied.”
Calvinist, John MacArthur: “He chose me. He selected people to be made holy in order to be with Him forever. Why he selected me, I will never know. I’m no better than anyone else. I’m worse than many. But He chose me.” (Understanding Election, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “As if God had not the right to keep His purposes concealed in His own power until He wishes to communicate them to men! What presumption, what madness it is, not to admit that God is wiser than we! Let us remember, therefore, that our rashness must be suppressed whenever the boundless height of the Divine foreknowledge is set before us. This, too, is the reason why he alls them ‘the unreachable riches of Christ’, meaning that this subject, though it exceeds our grasp, deserves reverence and admiration.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, p.162, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “He still continues with his exclamation, in which the more he exalts the divine mystery, the more he deters us from the curiosity of our investigation. Let us then not make inquiries concerning the Lord, except so far as He has revealed them by Scripture. Otherwise we enter a labyrinth from which retreat will not be easy. We must note that Paul is not here discussing all the mysteries of God, but those which are hidden with God, and which He desires us only to admire and adore.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, p.259, emphasis mine)
The fact is that Deuteronomy 29:29 does not define what the “secret things” of God are. Nevertheless, where Calvin cautions others not to go, he boldly marches:
John Calvin: “At this point in particular the flesh rages when it hears that the predestination to death of those who perish is referred to the will of God.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, p.208, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “But here he runs full sail against God for determining some from their very creation to destruction.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.78, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “...the secret counsel of God whereby He chooses some to salvation and destines others for eternal destruction.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.53, emphasis mine)
If the “secret things” do not belong to us, but only the “things revealed,” then how have the secret things come into the possession of Calvinists? Note that the verse does not say: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God and Calvinists, but the things revealed belong to the rest of mankind.” A significant problem occurs when Calvinists take the things which are “revealed,” such as God saying that He takes “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11), and then invoking the “secret things” which they cannot know, as a basis to then contradict those things which are revealed, such as by saying that God has a Secret Will in which He does indeed take pleasure in the death of the wicked and immutably decreed that they would not turn and live.
One member of the Society of Evangelical Arminians: “It seems to me that Calvinists have put the “secret things” that do not belong to them before the “things revealed.” This is exactly the opposite of the message of Deut. 29:29. For this reason the things revealed (God’s love for the world and desire to save all, the warnings against apostasy, and God’s plain declaration that he does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked, etc.) are discarded, rendered essentially meaningless, and made to undergo tortured exegesis for the sake of the “secret things” that Calvinists claim to know so much about.” (Calvinism and Deuteronomy 29:29)
