Condensed Theology, Lecture 19: Theology, Providence

8/14/2019 Condensed Theology, Lecture 19: Theology, Providence

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Condensed Theology

A Primer in Systematic Theology


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Theology Proper:

The Doctrine of God

What does the Bible teach about

God?


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The Providence of God


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Providence Defined

God personally and actively preserves andgoverns all that he has made; or

God controls everything each day; or

Providence is the almighty and ever presentpower of God by which he upholds, as with hishand, heaven and earth and all creatures and sorules them thatall things, in fact, come to us,

not by chance but from his fatherly hand(Heidelberg Catechism, Lords Day 10, Q & A27).


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Providence Defined

Providence may also be understood interms of its non-Christian competitors:

It is anti-deism It is anti-pantheism

It is anti-chance (randomness)

It is anti-fate (impersonal determinism)


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Providence Defined

God personally and actively preserves andgoverns all that he has made.


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Aspects of Providence


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Aspects of Providence

Traditionally, there are three:

Preservation

Concurrence Government


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Divine Preservation


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Divine Preservation

God is the personal and ultimate agentresponsible for the existence and

maintenance of the created order.Heb 1:3: And He is the radiance of His gloryand the exact representation of His nature,and upholds all things by the word of His

power. When He had made purification ofsins, He sat down at the right hand of theMajesty on high.


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Divine Preservation

God is the personal and ultimate agentresponsible for the existence andmaintenance of the created order.Col 1:16-17: For by Him all things were

created, both in the heavens and on earth,visible and invisible, whether thrones ordominions or rulers or authorities-- all things

have been created through Him and for Him.He is before all things, and in Him all thingshold together.


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Divine Preservation

God is the personal and ultimate agentresponsible for the existence and maintenanceof the created order.

Acts 17:25, 28a: nor is He served by human hands,as though He needed anything, since He Himselfgives to all people life and breath and allthings.28For in Him we live and move and exist.

2 Pet 3:7: But by His word the present heavens andearth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day ofjudgment and destruction of ungodly men.


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Divine Preservation

God is the personal and ultimate agentresponsible for the existence andmaintenance of the created order.Job 34:14-15: If He should determine to do

so, If He should gather to Himself His spiritand His breath, All flesh would perishtogether, And man would return to dust.

Ps 104:29: You hide Your face, they aredismayed; You take away their spirit, theyexpire And return to their dust.


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Divine Preservation


maintenance of the created order.Ps 145:15-16: The eyes of all look to You,And You give them their food in due time. Youopen Your hand And satisfy the desire of

every living thing.Ps 136:25: Who gives food to all flesh, For

His lovingkindness is everlasting.


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Divine Preservation

God is the personal and ultimate agentresponsible for the existence and maintenanceof the created order.

Acts 14:17: and yet He did not leave Himselfwithout witness, in that He did good and gave yourains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying yourhearts with food and gladness.

Jer 5:24: They do not say in their heart, Let us nowfear the LORD our God, Who gives rain in its season,Both the autumn rain and the spring rain, Who keepsfor us The appointed weeks of the harvest.


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Divine Preservation


maintenance of the created order.Matt 5:45: so that you may be sons of yourFather who is in heaven; for He causes Hissun to rise on the evil and the good, and

sends rain on the righteous and theunrighteous.


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Divine Preservation

God is the personal and ultimate agentresponsible for the existence andmaintenance of the created order.

It is important to keep in mind that thepreservational character of divine providenceis not negative; that is, the Lord does not

permit the daily existence. Instead, hecauses its existence.


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Divine Concurrence

Even though God is the personal andultimate agent responsible for theexistence and maintenance of the createdorder,

He cooperates with created things in everyaction, directing their distinctive properties

to cause them to act as they do;therefore


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Divine Concurrence

God is the primary cause of every actionperformed by every creature; the creaturesthemselves are the secondary causes ofevery action they perform.

In nature: rain, snow, wind, storms, thesunrise, etc.though to all of these (and

more) can be ascribed a natural cause, theBible teaches that God is the primary cause ofnatural phenomena.


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Divine Concurrence

God is the primary cause of every action performed byevery creature; the creatures themselves are thesecondary causes of every action they perform. Job 37:6-13: For to the snow He says, Fall on the earth, And to

the downpour and the rain, Be strong. He seals the hand ofevery man, That all men may know His work. Then the beastgoes into its lair And remains in its den. Out of the south comesthe storm, And out of the north the cold. From the breath of Godice is made, And the expanse of the waters is frozen. Also withmoisture He loads the thick cloud; He disperses the cloud of His

lightning. It changes direction, turning around by His guidance,That it may do whatever He commands it On the face of theinhabited earth. Whether for correction, or for His world, Or forlovingkindness, He causes it to happen.


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Divine Concurrence

God is the primary cause of every actionperformed by every creature; the creaturesthemselves are the secondary causes of every

action they perform.Job 38:32: Can you lead forth a constellation in its

season, And guide the Bear with her satellites?

Ps 135:6-7: Whatever the LORD pleases, He does,

In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of theearth; Who makes lightnings for the rain, Who bringsforth the wind from His treasuries.


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Divine Concurrence

God is the primary cause of every actionperformed by every creature; the creaturesthemselves are the secondary causes of

every action they perform.Ps 104:4, 14: He makes the winds His

messengers, Flaming fire Hisministers.14He causes the grass to grow for

the cattle, And vegetation for the labor ofman, So that he may bring forth food from theearth.


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Divine Concurrence


Even though God is the primary cause of theactivities of nature, the causes for them which

may be observed in creation are genuinecauses; however, they are to be understoodas secondary.


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Divine Concurrence


God is also the primary cause of the behaviorof the animals, while their own instincts are

the secondary cause.


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Divine Concurrence


every action they perform.Ps 104:27-29: They all wait for You To give

them their food in due season. You give tothem, they gather it up; You open Your hand,

they are satisfied with good. You hide Yourface, they are dismayed; You take away theirspirit, they expire And return to their dust.


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Divine Concurrence


Matt 6:26: Look at the birds of the air, thatthey do not sow, nor reap nor gather into

barns, and yet your heavenly Father feedsthem. Are you not worth much more thanthey?


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Divine Concurrence


every action they perform.Matt 10:29: Are not two sparrows sold for a

cent? And yet not one of them will fall to theground apart from your Father.

Job 38:41: Who prepares for the raven itsnourishment When its young cry to God Andwander about without food?


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Divine Concurrence


God is even the cause of so-called chanceevents; like which numbers come up at the

role of the dice.Prov 16:33: The lot is cast into the lap, But its

every decision is from the LORD.


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Divine Concurrence


God is the cause of the affairs of nations.

Job 12:23: He makes the nations great, then

destroys them; He enlarges the nations, thenleads them away.


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Divine Concurrence

God is the primary cause of every actionperformed by every creature; the creaturesthemselves are the secondary causes of everyaction they perform.Ps 22:28: For the kingdom is the LORD'S And He

rules over the nations.Dan 4:34b-35: For His dominion is an everlasting

dominion, And His kingdom endures from generationto generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are

accounted as nothing, But He does according to Hiswill in the host of heaven And among the inhabitantsof earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say toHim, What have You done?


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Divine Concurrence


every action they perform. God is even the cause of every action

performed by every human being.

Ps 33:14-15: From His dwelling place He

looks out On all the inhabitants of the earth,He who fashions the hearts of them all, Hewho understands all their works.


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Divine Concurrence


Deut 32:8: When the Most High gave thenations their inheritance, When He separated

the sons of man, He set the boundaries of thepeoples According to the number of the sonsof Israel.


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Divine Concurrence


Prov 16:9: The mind of man plans his way,But the LORD directs his steps.

Prov 21:1: The kings heart is like channels ofwater in the hand of the LORD; He turns itwherever He wishes.


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Divine Concurrence


every action they perform.Ezra 6:22: And they observed the Feast of

Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, forthe LORD had caused them to rejoice, and

had turned the heart of the king of Assyriatoward them to encourage them in the work ofthe house of God, the God of Israel.


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Divine Concurrence


Jer 10:23: I know, O LORD, that a man's wayis not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks

to direct his steps.Prov 19:21: Many plans are in a man's heart,

But the counsel of the LORD will stand.


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Divine Concurrence


every action they perform.Prov 16:1: The plans of the heart belong to

man, But the answer of the tongue is from theLORD.

Prov 20:24: Mans steps are ordained by theLORD, How then can man understand hisway?


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Divine Concurrence


Ps 139:16: Your eyes have seen myunformed substance; And in Your book were

all written The days that were ordained forme, When as yet there was not one of them.


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Divine Concurrence


Concurrence says that God directs and worksthrough second causes so that the

things/persons themselves are active inbringing about his ordained ends.


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Divine Concurrence


This obtains even for mans acts of sin anddisobedience.

Ps 105:25: He turned their heart to hate Hispeople, To deal craftily with His servants.


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Divine Concurrence


action they perform.Josh 11:19-20: There was not a city which madepeace with the sons of Israel except the Hivites livingin Gibeon; they took them all in battle. For it was ofthe LORD to harden their hearts, to meet Israel inbattle in order that he might utterly destroy them, thatthey might receive no mercy, but that he mightdestroy them, just as the LORD had commandedMoses.


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Divine Concurrence


every action they perform.Isa 45:7: The One forming light and creating

darkness, Causing well-being and creatingcalamity; I am the LORD who does all these.

Amos 3:6: If a trumpet is blown in a city willnot the people tremble? If a calamity occurs ina city has not the LORD done it?


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Divine Concurrence


Lam 3:37-38: Who is there who speaks and itcomes to pass, Unless the Lord has

commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of theMost High That both good and ill go forth?


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Divine Concurrence


action they perform. 1 Sam 16:14: Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from

Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him.

1 Sam 18:10: Now it came about on the next day that anevil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved

in the midst of the house.

1 Sam 19:9: Now there was an evil spirit from the LORDon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in hishand, and David was playing the harp with his hand.


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Divine Concurrence


action they perform.Judg 9:23-24: Then God sent an evil spirit betweenAbimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men ofShechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, so thatthe violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaalmight come, and their blood might be laid onAbimelech their brother, who killed them, and on themen of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to killhis brothers.


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Divine Concurrence


action they perform.Acts 2:22-23: Men of Israel, listen to these words:Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by Godwith miracles and wonders and signs which Godperformed through Him in your midst, just as youyourselves knowthis Man, delivered over by thepredetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, younailed to a cross by the hands of godless men andput Him to death.


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Divine Concurrence


every action they perform.Acts 4:27-28: For truly in this city there were

gathered together against Your holy servantJesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and

Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and thepeoples of Israel, to do whatever Your handand Your purpose predestined to occur.


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Divine Concurrence


With respect to Gods sovereignty over evil,the notion of concurrence means that God

brings about evil deeds through the willingactions of moral creatures.


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Divine Concurrence


God is not evil.

He can never be credited (blamed) for evil

(Jas 1:13). He never takes pleasure in evil (Hab 1:13).


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Divine Concurrence


Nevertheless, as we have seen God standsbehind evil acts as their primary cause.

Therefore, God stands behind good and evilasymmetrically.


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Divine Concurrence


every action they perform.Gen 50:20: As for you, you meant evil against

me, but God meant it for good in order tobring about this present result, to preserve

many people alive.Ps 105:17: He sent a man before them,

Joseph, who was sold as a slave.


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Divine Concurrence

God is the primary cause of every action performed byevery creature; the creatures themselves are thesecondary causes of every action they perform. One final word on divine concurrence:

Even though God works through secondary causes, this doesnot mean that they are separate from him.

For this reason, a miracle cannot be defined as an act thatinvolves God more immediately than in other ordinary acts. Heis always active in every act, ordinary and extraordinary.

A miracle is simply a less common kind of Gods activity, which

he may use means or not to accomplish, for the sake ofengendering awe and wonder and testifying to his character asthe supernatural redeemer.


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Divine Government


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Divine Government

God actively directs the created order tofulfill his own purposes.Eph 1:10-11: with a view to an

administration suitable to the fullness of thetimes, that is, the summing up of all things inChrist, things in the heavens and things onthe earth. In Him also we have obtained aninheritance, having been predestinedaccording to His purpose who works all thingsafter the counsel of His will.


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Divine Government

God actively directs the created order tofulfill his own purposes.Ps 22:28: For the kingdom is the LORDs And

He rules over the nations.Ps 47:8: God reigns over the nations, God

sits on His holy throne. The princes of thepeople have assembled themselves as the

people of the God of Abraham, For theshields of the earth belong to God; He ishighly exalted.


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Divine Government

God actively directs the created order to fulfill hisown purposes.Ps 93:1: The LORD reigns, He is clothed with

majesty; The LORD has clothed and girded Himselfwith strength; Indeed, the world is firmly established,it will not be moved.

Ps 104:19-20: He made the moon for the seasons;The sun knows the place of its setting. You appointdarkness and it becomes night, In which all the

beasts of the forest prowl about.Ps 148:8: Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy

wind, fulfilling His word.


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The Doctrine of Providence

Defined


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Providence Defined

God personally and actively preserves andgoverns all that he has made.

Preservation: He is the personal and ultimateagent responsible for the existence andmaintenance of the created order.

Concurrence: He is the primary cause of allthings, working through secondary causes.

Government: He actively directs the createdorder to fulfill his purposes.

Condensed Theology, Lecture 19: Theology, Providence

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