Evangablog - Oedipus Rex

Throughout the story of Oedipus Rex, Oedipus makes his own decisions. He chooses out of anger to murder the traveler, he declares that he would go to no end to find and banish the man who was responsible for the plague. However, the Greek philosophy of fate is also worked into the story.

Laius, Jocasta, and Oedipus all take measures to prevent the prophecy from occuring, but everything they tried ended up leading to the exact thing they were trying to prevent.

This seems to parallel the Christian doctrine of Dual Perspective Soveriegnty. On one hand, man has complete free will. He makes all his decisions seemingly on his own. But on the other hand, God is in complete control of every little detail of our lives. It is by His grace and power that we are saved, "and not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:9). Christ is also the "Author and sustainer" of our faith (Heb 12). In Acts 26, Paul tells his story of redemption to King Agrippa. Paul has absolutely no choice in the matter. This is clearly an example of God's divine predestination. Oedipus Rex and the Greek philosophy of fate provide a good analogy to the two parallel outlooks: apparant human action and divine providence.