The Providence of God in Matthew 10:28-31

In Matthew 10:16-42, Jesus discusses persecution. In verses 28-31, He gives His disciples the proper perspective on persecution and a strong security for endurance. He says, "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows." Jesus is telling His disciples that they need not fear in the midst of persecution because God protects them.

I wish to focus in on verse 29, where Jesus says "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father." What does Jesus mean when He says "apart from your Father?" Some interpret it as "apart from your Father's knowledge"; others as "apart from your Father's will." Which is it?

If Jesus is saying that not even a sparrow can die apart from the will of God, then He is making a very extensive statement about the scope of God's control in the world. He is basically saying, "If God controls even the seemingly insignificant death of a sparrow, how much more certain should you be that He controls all of the circumstances of your own lives--even the seemingly insignificant details! Therefore, take courage in persecution. Nothing can happen to you apart from the loving plan of God." Jesus, therefore, seems to be affirming that God controls all things in our lives--even the seemingly minor details. This is strong confirmation of the exhaustive Providence of God.

What if the proper interpretation, however, is that not one sparrow "will fall to the ground apart from your Father's knowledge"? Would this change our above conclusions? I do not think it would. Even if we assume that Jesus was referring to God's knowledge, it would still lead to the conclusion that God controls all things in regards to the lives of His children.

If Jesus was referring to God's knowledge, then His point was to say that even the littlest things are objects of God's attention. In this context, the sparrow's flight being an object of God's attention would imply that God cares for the sparrows. This is because Jesus is illustrating God's care for us by pointing out that God cares for sparrows. Because God cares about sparrows, Jesus is able to exhort us: "So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows." How could this comforting command have any force if God did not care about the sparrows?

Now we can take this a step further. If God cares for the sparrows, even in regards to their deaths, then it means that He has a preference in regards to what happens to them. Isn't that what it means to care for something--there are certain things you want to happen to it, and certain things you don't? So, if God cares about the death of sparrows, it must mean that He is concerned about when they die and how they die.

At this point we must ask, what is God's will? His will is simply what He wants to happen. "My counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all of my good pleasure" (Isaiah 46:10). God's counsel, or "will," is in this verse equated with His "good pleasure," or what He wants. Thus, God's will is what He wants to happen. So, in other words, God's will is His preference.

We have already seen that God, since He cares about sparrows, must have a preference about what happens to them, and this preference, Jesus says, extends to when they die. But since God's will is His preference, this is equal to saying that God has a will for each sparrow. This means that, in regards to each sparrow, God has a will about when they will die and how they will die.

The first question we must ask in light of this is, can God act to bring about His preferences and ensure that they happen? The answer must be yes, for God says He "will accomplish all [His] good pleasure." Job tells us that none of God's purposes can fail (Job 42:2). Thus, nothing can stop God from accomplishing His will. Therefore, God's will for each sparrow must determine when it will die.

Further, in the context of Matthew 10, what good would it do for Jesus to point out that God has a preference for what happens to the sparrows unless God is able to bring to pass His preferences? For, if God was unable to bring to pass His preferences over sparrows, how could this provide comfort to His disciples that He is able to protect them? Jesus tells us not to fear because if God is concerned about sparrows, surely He is concerned about us. But what comfort would this be if God did not control what happens to us?

So, Jesus seems to be saying, if God has preferences in regards to sparrows (and is able to bring them about), then He has preferences in regards to us (and is able to bring them about). Since His preference is His will, then He has a will--or plan--concerning what will happen to us. This will must therefore be just as extensive as God's concern for us, since His will is His preference. The text says that God's preferences for us cover all things, since He cares about all things about us. Thus, since God is able to bring about His will, and His will extends to all aspects of our lives, then God must control all aspects of our lives.

One may say that just because God is able to bring about His preference, that does not mean that He will. In a sense, I agree because there are many things that God wants in and of themselves and does not bring to pass. However, the reason He does not bring them to pass is because there is something that He wants more, not because there is something preventing Him from doing His will. Thus, God's preference is still done. It should be clear, however, that when I speak of God's preference being done, I mean His greatest preference in regards to the situation. Now, if God is able to bring to pass His greatest preference, and there is nothing that can stop Him, does that necessarily mean that He will? Of course, for how could we really call His greatest preference if He was not concerned enough to bring it about?

An example may help at this point. In and of itself, God does not want His children to suffer persecution. However, He does allow it to happen. Why? Because there is something that He wants more than keeping us from all persecution. That something more is the purification of our faith that happens when it is tested (1 Peter 1:6-7) and the holiness that we grow in as we endure for Christ's sake and the glory that He gets when we faithfully endure under trial. So, if persecution will bring a greater good to us in the long run, then He will allow it to happen because He desires the greater good more than keeping us completely from all persecution.

So, we have seen that God's greatest preference for us is His will, and since His preference extends to all things, so does His will for us. Since God is always able to accomplish His will, this means that nothing will happen to us except what God has planned for our greatest good and His greatest glory. This is great comfort in persecution, for it gives us confidence of God's protection. Thus, even if Jesus meant that not one sparrow dies apart from God's knowledge, His point still seems to be that we can take courage because God controls all circumstances of our lives.

There is further confirmation of this in the text. Jesus clearly assumed that God did control what would happen to us, for He said that "not a hair of your head will perish" though they will kill many of us. If God can keep hairs from perishing, then He can keep a person from dying if He wants and can keep any other bad thing from happening. Thus, if a Christian does die in persecution or is injured, it is because God allowed it as part of His plan for their greater good.

Thus, the whole context seems to be clear that Jesus is not simply comforting His disciples with the fact that God knows about and watches them; He is comforting them because God watches over them.

Jerry Bridges concludes our discussion well. "God does not exercise his sovereignty in only a broad way, leaving the smaller details of our lives to "chance" or "luck." That is precisely Jesus' point. God our Father, who exercises his sovereignty in such minute detail as to control the destiny of a little bird, will certainly exercise his sovereignty to control even the most insignificant details of our lives."[1]

Notes 1. Jerry Bridges, "Does Divine Sovereignty Make a Difference in Everyday Life?" in The Grace of God, the Bondage of the Will (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1995), p. 207.

All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, by the Lockman Foundation.

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