05/02/2026
What God Decrees and What Man Does
I was sent a meme with Jeffrey Epstein’s face that mocked Calvinism by claiming that God “decreed every minute detail of every horrific act.” The implication was clear. If God is sovereign, then God must be morally responsible for evil. If God ordains all things, then monsters like Epstein are merely puppets and their guilt dissolves into divine causation. That accusation sounds clever, but it collapses the moment we let Scripture speak rather than human emotion.
The Bible begins with a simple, inescapable reality. God is God and man is man. “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases” Psalm 115:3. His sovereignty is not a theological invention of Calvinists. It is the very air Scripture breathes. From Genesis to Revelation, God rules absolutely, without competition, without surprise, without limitation. Yet this same God is “light, and in Him there is no darkness at all” 1 John 1:5. Sovereignty does not make God evil. Holiness defines Him.
Here is the first truth the meme ignores. God ordains all that comes to pass, but He never commits sin, approves sin, or delights in sin. “You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with You” Psalm 5:4. Scripture holds these two realities together without embarrassment. God is sovereign over everything, including human evil and God is morally pure in His nature. The tension is not resolved by reducing God’s power. It is resolved by understanding that God governs evil without becoming evil.
Now consider Jeffrey Epstein. He was not a mindless robot executing a divine script against his will. The Bible is crystal clear that sinners act from their own corrupt hearts. “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality” Matthew 15:19. When Epstein exploited, trafficked, and abused, he was acting according to his own desires, not as a forced agent of heaven. God did not coerce him into sin. His sin flowed from his nature.
This is where the meme fails the test of Scripture. It assumes that if God decrees an event, then man must be morally excused. But the Bible demolishes that logic. When wicked men crucified Christ, it was simultaneously God’s sovereign plan and their personal guilt. Peter preached this plainly. Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,” and yet the same men “crucified and killed Him by the hands of lawless men” Acts 2:23. God ordained the cross. Men committed the crime. Both are true.
The same principle applies to every evil act in history, including Epstein’s. God rules over even the darkest deeds, but human responsibility remains intact. “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” James 1:14. No one will stand before God and say, “You made me do it.” Scripture strips that excuse away.
Furthermore, the Bible does not portray God as passively watching evil. He restrains it. He limits it. He uses it for His righteous purposes. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, an act of cruelty and betrayal, yet Joseph later declared, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” Genesis 50:20. God did not inspire their hatred. He sovereignly overruled it. That is not moral compromise. That is divine mastery.
The meme also misses another vital biblical truth. God hates injustice and promises judgment. Epstein did not escape accountability by dying. “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” Hebrews 9:27. Physical death did not erase his crimes. He will stand before the Judge of all the earth, and that Judge will do what is right Genesis 18:25.
This is where Reformed theology, drawn from Scripture, becomes brutally honest. Man is not a victim of God’s sovereignty. Man is a rebel against God’s holiness. “There is none righteous, no, not one” Romans 3:10. Evil does not come from God’s decree. It comes from man’s corrupted will. God ordains the existence of evil, but He never authors it. He governs it without becoming it.
At the same time, this doctrine should not lead to despair but to worship. If God were not sovereign over even evil, then evil would be ultimately chaotic and unstoppable. But the Bible assures us that nothing escapes His hand. “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all” Psalm 103:19. Even the worst sinners move within the boundaries of His purpose.
The meme tries to weaponize sovereignty against God. Scripture turns it back toward hope. The same God who ruled over Epstein’s wicked world also rules over the cross where Christ bore sin. “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures” 1 Corinthians 15:3. Mercy did not arise from human goodness. It flowed from divine decree.
Therefore, the issue is not whether God is sovereign. That is settled by Scripture. The real issue is whether we will submit to His Word or judge Him by our emotions. The Bible leaves us with a sobering conclusion. God is sovereign, man is responsible, and evil is real. None of these truths cancel the others.
Jeffrey Epstein was not a victim of Calvinism. He was a sinner who will face God. And every person reading this stands under the same reality. “God commands all people everywhere to repent” Acts 17:30.
If this doctrine unsettles you, good. It should. But let it drive you not to accusation against God, but to the mercy of Christ, where justice and grace meet without contradiction.
He, who has ears to hear, let him hear.
Jeremiah Knight
The Reformation Resurgence
