Genesis 45 · a question people ask
If God sent Joseph, were the brothers still to blame?
Joseph says both "you sold" (45:4, 5) and "it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God" (45:8). Later he puts the two side by side: "you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (50:20), and the brothers themselves ask forgiveness "because they did evil to you" (50:17). Protestants explain how the two fit together in different ways.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
God ordained it, they are responsible
Those who hold this view read 45:8 and 50:20 as saying God purposed the event itself, while the brothers remain fully guilty for their own intent. They point to Acts 2:23, where Jesus is "delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God" and yet killed "by the hand of lawless men".
Genesis 45:8 · Genesis 50:20 · Acts 2:23
God overruled what they chose
Those who hold this view read "God sent me" as God working through and over the brothers' free choice to bring good out of it, without having willed their sin. They stress that the brothers "meant evil" (50:20) and had to ask forgiveness (50:17).
Genesis 50:17 · Genesis 50:20
The verses
“‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.”
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.”