Nothing Happens Without God

But we must hold with unswerving faith that nothing whatever is done in this world without God. For we must acknowledge that everything is done either by his will or by his permission. That is, we must believe that whatever is good is carried out by the will of God and with his help, and that whatever is the opposite is done by his permission, when the divine protection is withdrawn from us for our sins and the hardness of our hearts, and he allows the devil and the shameful passions of the body to lord it over us. The words of the apostle most certainly teach us this, when he says: “For this reason God gave them up to shameful passions”; and again: “Because they did not see fit to keep God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a depraved mind, to do things that are not fitting.” And the Lord himself says through the prophet: “But my people did not hear my voice, and Israel did not obey me. So I gave them up to the lusts of their own hearts. They will walk after their own inventions.” [a]