Thursday, October 16th, 2008
In Chapter 3, when we looked at God’s eternal decree, we confessed that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass, yet he is not the author of sin… nor does he violate second causes, but establishes them.
Last week, in section 1 we confessed that God is in control of everything, he governs and directs all which he does for his own glory. This week we expand on the governance of his creatures by maintaining that he does not violate second causes such as the free actions of people, but rather establishes them. He maintains man’s liberty free wills..
Please note that whenever we talk about the divine sovereignty of God, our sinful hearts will always object. One objection we’ll look at today is that “if God controls everything, then I am not responsible for what I do…”
This objection is based on the assumption that when God controls human actions, he forces us to do his will whether we want to or not. To put it more bluntly, IF God controlled all things, then he also controls me to sin against my will, then God would be responsible and not I.
The bible however goes into great detail teaching that we are responsible because when left to our own will, we sin. God is infinite, eternal and unchangeable – he is able to let us do as we please, allow free will or second causes, yet is absolutely certain that we do what he has predetermined what we will do.
One example of this is in Genesis where we see the relationship between Joseph and his brothers. “as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people (Gen 50:20). They did evil, they did it freely… and yet… this was all according to God’s will. This is a great mystery.
Although—in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first Cause—all things come to pass unchangeably and infallibly; yet, by the same providence, he orders them to occur according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.
Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 5, section 2 (Modern English Version)
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Monday, October 6th, 2008
Chapter 4 – God’s creation
2. After God had made everything else, he created mankind. He made them male and female, with rational and immortal souls, endowed with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after his own image. They had the law of God written in their hearts and had power to fulfill it. They were, however, under a possibility of transgressing, being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change. In addition to this law written in their hearts, they received a command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As long as they obeyed this command, they were happy in their communion with God and had dominion over the creatures.
In section 1, we acknowledged that God created the world and everything in it. He did it for his good pleasure in the space of six days and all very good…
Section 2 looks at three aspects of God’s final act of creation.
1) God’s crowning work of creation was man
2) Man was made in the image of God
3) God created man with free will
1. Man is God’s crowning work of creation
After God created the universe… he created a planet that can sustain life, and after that, he created the animals and after that, finally created man… In Genesis 2, we learn that God created man from the dust of the earth and breathed the breath of life into man. As the confession states, man was endowed with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after his own image. Man was the made a little lower than angels as the psalmist wrote.
2. What does it mean that Man is made in God’s image? In Genesis 1 God made man in his own image, male and female he created them. A commentator says that man originally was an image of the Triune God in that he was made to function as prophet, priest, and king. As a prophet man was endowed with physical senses and mental ability to learn truth. As a priest, he possessed the desire to worship God in true holiness. And as king he had the ability to subject all to the purpose and will of God.
3. The last aspect of God’s final act of creation was that God created man with free will. Man had the freedom to obey the law of God. God gave man the ability to live life happily with God, but with that freedom also came the ability to break God’s law.
As we look at humanity today, we see the effects of man’s fall… we see the ugly side of man… but let’s also remember the original state of man… Man as highly regarded by God, man as the image bearers of God, and man that originally lived in perfect obedience and communion with God.
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Monday, October 6th, 2008
Chapter 4 Creation
1. It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, in the beginning, to create—or make out of nothing—the world and everything in it, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.
For review, Chapter 1 taught on Holy Scripture, Chapter 2 looked at the nature of God and the Holy Trinity, Chapter 3 discussed God’s eternal decree.
Chapter 4 looks at God’s work of creation. It is only in light of what we learned in the first 3 chapters that we can understand God’s work of creation. The same God that reveals himself in scripture is the same God that reveals himself in nature.
Before we look at that, let’s look at what the world believes. Today, modern scientific dogma believes:
1) the universe is self existent or eternal
2) that it was not created out of nothing
3) that the present form of the world is the result of a process of selection controlled by the “principle of the survival of the fittest”
4) there is no ultimate reason for creation.
In contrast, as Christians, we believe that:
1) before the world was created, there was God that exists eternally in the unity of the Godhead as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2) We believe that the universe was spoken into creation in the space of six days, he created all things out of nothing.
3) We believe that what God created was very good in his sight.
4) And He did this for his own glory.
As Christians, we then believe that creation reveals who God is. Creation displays God’s glory, power, wisdom and goodness. Therefore, one must be a believing Christian to study nature in the proper frame of mind and in the proper procedure. It is only in this “Christian consciousness” that one is ready and willing to regard all nature as revelational of God. A scientist can only understand nature better in light of his understanding of scripture.
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