QUESTIONS and ANSWERS - Viewpoint

Romans 11:32 states: “For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that He may have mercy on them all.” How can God hold us responsible for disobedience since He has “bound all men over to disobedience?”

The answer to this question depends largely on the meaning of the Greek understanding of “bound over to disobedience.” It is also important to know what Paul taught in regard to how God looks upon sin and disobedience.

The literal meaning of the Greek is to “close up together,” “hem in,” “enclose.” This “hemming in” happened as a natural result of Adam’s sin of disobedience in the Garden of Eden. Romans 5:12 tells us, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” Since all of Adam’s offspring came into existence after he disobeyed and the penalty was pronounced on him, all are born into a condition of sin. It is a matter of natural inheritance. You say, “Why did God arrange it this way? Why couldn’t all of Adam’s offspring be born pure like Adam was before he disobeyed?” First of all, this would be contrary to nature which has its strict rules that can be depended upon. Any exception would cause nature to be unreliable.

In God’s plan for mankind, He had a very definite purpose in planning things as He did, even though He has the power to do anything He wishes. Another reason for allowing man to be “bound over to disobedience” is that there is much for man to learn from the consequences of disobedience and sin. Man has been given the freedom of choice. He also, has been given a conscience to help him make proper choices. To choose the way of sin will ultimately yield its resulting consequences of misery and suffering. To choose to do right will result in peace and blessing. It is the experience that comes from these choices that God sees as the all-important lesson that will one day prove invaluable to man when Jesus returns to establish His Kingdom of righteousness on this earth. This has been the prayer of Christians since Jesus’ first advent: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.”

The meaning then, is that God allowed man, by His personal choice, to sink into the quicksand of sin and disobedience as an everlasting lesson that will ultimately prove to be a blessing as he walks up the highway of righteousness in the coming Kingdom.

E. Weeks