Did God Make Man Upright?

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Hi B____,

It is good to hear from you again! You asked about the last verse in Ecc 7:

Ecc 7:29  Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

You say:

I was pleased to see you point out that Solomon has just made the statement that “There is none good, no not one”, and you are aware that the “vessel of clay was marred in the Potter’s hand”.

Ecc 7:20  For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

There are many verses of God’s Word which seem to say that God has already done something that is really not yet done. A perfect example of this is the way God speaks to Moses of having conquered various Canaanite kings. Look at how God speaks of events as if they were already done, before they have yet happened:

Deu 2:24  Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.

Israel is not yet even come into the land of Sihon, and the Lord is already speaking as if Sihon and his whole Amorite nation has already been conquered by Israel, ” behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land”.

I checked the tense of that verb ‘have given’ as well as the verb ‘hath made’ in Ecc 7:29 and they are both in the perfect tense, meaning that both are finished and perfected. But as Paul puts it, “we see not yet all things subjected unto him”. Here is a perfect example of how God’s Word is written and intended to be understood. Look in this one verse how we are told that something has been done and then we are plainly told that it is not yet done:

Heb 2:8  Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

“Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet… He left nothing that is not put under Him… we see not yet all things put under him”. Paul is not the least bit confused by this statement, and neither is anyone who knows that “God speaks of things that are not as though they were”.

Before we draw a conclusion as to what is being said in Ecc 7:29, let’s look at one more example of where God speaks of things that are not yet done as if they were already accomplished:

Jos 10:7  So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.
Jos 10:8  And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.

Joshua hasn’t even arrived at the battle yet, and God tells him, “I have delivered them into thine hand”. From God’s perspective it was already done; the battle was already won even though it was yet to be fought by Israel.

What this tells us is that God already knew the prayers for victory that were being prayed by all the soldiers. He knew in advance the need for those prayers, and he intended that those prayers be prayed to Him, even though He already knew what was the outcome of that battle with those Canaanite kings.

And that is exactly what is being said in Ecc 7:29:

Ecc 7:29  Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.

God said “I have delivered them into thy hand”, before it was physically done, and “God hath made man upright”, before it is physically done.

Here is the verse which explains this and many other verses which seem to indicate that man’s will sometimes thwarts God’s will. Such is never the case, it just appears that way to the natural man:

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Just as God “Has made man upright”, so also He told Abraham, “I have made thee a father of many nations” before Abraham had his first child. God “calls those things which be not as though they were”.

God can and does do that, but we cannot and had better not try to do that:

Jas 4:13  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Jas 4:14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Jas 4:15  For that [ye ought] to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

I hope that helps you to see that God alone “knows what shall be on the morrow;” that He “Calls those things that be not as though they were,” and that includes “that God hath made man upright”.

I also hope we get to meet some day soon. Come be with us in Dallas in May.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

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