Ps 138:6 Though the LORD [be] high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

TRANSCENDENCE:
In order to appreciate the doctrine of creation it is necessary to consider the transcendency of God for the two go hand in hand.
The word Transcend means to go beyond the limits of something; to exceed. Applied to God it means to be separate or beyond (the reach of). Thus when we say that God transcends His creation we mean that though He created and sustains it He is separate from it and maintains a completely objective relationship to it. God is not "in subjection to" the universe nor does He depend on it for His existence.  His main arena of activity is that of eternity, not time. That is to say, as the Independent, Self Sufficient God... not subject to anything other than Himself, He both decrees and creates the universe. Accordingly, the doctrines of Creation and Transcendence have a direct correlation one to another. This can be seen in the fact that before the creation God did not "transcend" anything, for there was nothing in existence for Him to transcend. But when He expressed His power of Creation and brought the universe into existence, He transcended that creation by endowing it with attributes that are not found in the Deity.  Had He not done so then we might well attribute the elements contained in the creation to the Deity and end up with pantheism. But as we shall see with the doctrine of creation, this cannot be done. The attributes of creation such as temporalness; materialism; finiteness etc. are not found in the Deity. By this God maintains a completely objective attitude and relationship to the universe. This is accomplished by God by reason of His power of creation. That is to say, when He creates anything there is no impartation of His essence or nature into the thing created. His divine attributes remain intact and confined to His nature. Whatever attributes the creation contains that are in any way similar to those found in the Deity are there by reason of creation. Strictly speaking they are the same in kind but not in essence. Is there love in  the universe? It is a created love. Is there goodness in the universe? It is a created goodness. Is there beauty and glory in the universe? It is a created beauty. Is there life in the universe? It is a created life. By this then, God is able to impart into His creation elements and attributes that are not a projection or emanation of His holy nature. Is there evil in the creation? It is a created evil. Thus, by right of both creation and transcendence God remains separate and apart from those created elements of the universe and is unaffected by them. Let us look at some passages that teach God's transcendence;

Prov 8: 22  The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
 23  I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth
was.
 24  When [there were] no depths, I was brought forth; when [there were] no
fountains abounding with water.
 25  Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought
forth:
 26  While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest
part of the dust of the world.

Even before anything else existed God was exercising His Divine wisdom as He determined all things that should come to pass and that according to the good pleasure of His will. This is what is meant when we say God was "alone". The decree therefore is founded upon nothing else but the wisdom of  God.

1Ki 8:27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and
   heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that
   I have builded?
2Ch 2:6 But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven
   of heavens cannot contain him? who [am] I then, that I should build
   him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him?
2Ch 6:18 But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold,
   heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this
   house which I have built!

These "heavens" which were created by God cannot contain Him because he is far above them by reason of His transcendence. More Scripture;

Ps 90:4 For a thousand years in thy sight [are but] as yesterday when it is
   past, and [as] a watch in the night.
2Pe 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is]
   with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

With God time is irrelevant simply because He is not bound or subject to it. He is above and outside of time by reason of His transcendence.

Ps 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy
presence?
 8  If I ascend up into heaven, thou [art] there: if I make my bed in hell,
behold, thou [art there].
 9  [If] I take the wings of the morning, [and] dwell in the uttermost parts
of the sea;
 10  Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

The reason why God possesses the attribute of omnipresence is because He is unbound by the created elements of time and space. Our God transcends His creation and remains unaffected by it. Because of His attribute of transcendence the creation cannot introduce change to Him and He remains immutable. He is so both with and without the creation! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! It is within this framework that passages like Num 23:19, Isa 55:8, 2Ch 20:6 and others like it are understood. By the same token a verse like;

Ge 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

makes no sense. How can the unchangeable, immutable, transcendent God "repent" and "be grieved" by His creation if He is not subject to or affected by it? The answer is that He cannot. This verse and others like it refer to an entirely different area of doctrine and are irrelevant with respect to transcendency! We shall examine these in due time.

Since God transcends His creation; He is "beyond its reach" and is not subject to it. The Arminian says that God only "permits" evil to come to pass by man's free will. Accordingly, God looks down the corridors of time to see what men will do and on that basis He makes certain choices and decisions. This is putting God in subjection to history. It makes His choices dependent upon what happens in time. This thinking fails to consider that all that takes place in history has been decreed and is controlled completely by God. Everything! All of it! He does not need to peer into His "crystal ball" to see what's going to happen; He already knows. Otherwise God would indeed be in subjection to His creation and there would be forces outside of His control. But nothing escapes God's control. He works all things, including the sinful acts of men, according to His own will. This Divine working takes place within the confines of His immutability according to all that He has decreed to come to pass. The decree and its outworking, from a Divine viewpoint is eternal and unchangeable. Accordingly all things will infallibly come to pass. It is upon this platform that passages which speak of God "changing His mind; repenting;" etc. are completely irrelevant! They do not apply. To nullify what is being said here by appealing to verses such as Gen 2:19; 6:6; Ps 14:2 etc. is to commit the fallacy of irrelevance! But let us now proceed to creation.
 

THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION:
The Bible opens with a grand thesis which is not found anyplace else in the form in which the Bible presents it; The great doctrine of creation. It is basic because every other Bible doctrine is a development of it! If we carefully study and accept it and learn to relate it to every other doctrine we find that, like a passkey, it opens up all the other doctrines to our understanding. The Biblical doctrine of creation is both unique and wonderful; which is the very definition of the God of the Bible! In its simplicity the Bible simply teaches that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But by many references it teaches us that  that simple statement expresses a most profound truth and it is this; God NEVER changes! He existed before the universe ever was and when He brought it into existence IT IN NO WAY AFFECTED HIS HOLY NATURE! This is God's attribute of Immutability; that God is unchangeable. This can be summed up by stating that God, who never began... (He always was) gave a beginning to the universe; that God who never changes created a universe that constantly changes; that God who has no end created a universe in which everything has an end! In short, the infinite God created a finite universe. In this way He transcends His creation.
   In order to see this more fully the doctrine of creation can be variously stated as follows; God, who in Himself neither experienced nor had any such thing as a beginning... created a universe which had something that He had not... a beginning. Thus God brought something into existence out of nothing, not out of His nature, that was neither a part of his nature nor did it affect His nature in any way or cause Him to change. God Himself is changeless and yet He brought a world into existence in the which all things change. He then is the changeless Author of change; the beginningless Creator of beginnings and the endless Ordainer of endings. He created the rocky mountains but there are no "mountains" in God. He is unlimited (except by Himself), yet He created a world of limits. He created a physical universe which contains material entities, but He has no "material" or "physical" qualities in Himself. In summation then, God has the ability to bring into existence that which in no way is of His essence or nature. In so doing He remains Immutable and objectively separate from that which He creates! He is in a transcendent relationship to it all. The result is that His holy nature is unchanged and unaffected by His own creation. This great separation is the Christian answer to the existence of evil in the world alongside of a Benevolent and Omnipotent God! To see this all we have to do is apply this doctrine to the problem of evil in the following way.
God is the Good creator of human goodness, which is in no way like His Divine goodness! To make this a bit plainer we can say that His divine goodness is just as different from our human goodness as His glorious excellence is different from human evil and sin. In short, all the qualities of creation were made by Him but are NOT in any way the projection of Himself. He made the world... all of it... "out of nothing" and... it is not He and He is not it! They (God and the universe) are two entirely separate and different entities. Thus God brought a universe that begins, changes and ends into existence but there is no beginning, change or end in God. And... God brought a universe containing evil into existence... but THERE IS NO EVIL IN GOD!   He is the good creator of evil! Thus He is able to bring evil into existence and Himself not be evil! This then, is the grand doctrine of creation and is the platform upon which the Christian answer to the problem of evil is built. Before going further let me cite a verse that speaks to this truth;

Ps 102: 24  I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years [are] throughout all generations.
 25  Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens [are] the work of thy hands.
 26  They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
 27  But thou [art] the same, and thy years shall have no end.

Heb 1: 10  And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
 11  They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;
 12  And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

Heb 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

These verses show the immutability of God in that He never changes. The fact that He existed in eternity without a universe and now co-exists along with one in no way introduces change to the Deity. A few more verses;

 6  For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

God, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning has created a world of change where nothing is fixed. (I here someone shouting "death and taxes!")  (-:  God is the changeless author of change... OK except death and taxes; these are beyond His control.... (-;
The presence of the factor of "change" in the universe does not reveal God's nature as changing!
Moreso, God was the full and perfect God incapable of any further fulfillment or extension; hence, though He brought into being a universe which in time had never before existed...  the fact of its coming into existence constitutes no change for God! Are you there yet? I know this takes some brain work but it is well supported by the Bible. Let me re-state it. In the mystery of His being and eternity... the coming into existence of an objective universe added nothing to God neither was it change for Him!  Let's go deeper. The fact that the universe exists Has absolutely no bearing on God's attribute of Autonomous Self existence. In other words, the nature of God is not that He is a being with a universe! The universe has nothing to do with the existence of God. If it did then we would be forced to say that God does indeed change for there was a point in which God existed without the universe. But the universe is not an essential part of the nature of God and therefore not necessary to His attributes of Self existence and Immutability. God is necessary in order for the universe to exist but the universe is in no sense necessary for God to exist. Accordingly, when God did bring the universe into existence it constituted no change for Him. And since the universe is not of His essence or nature you cannot look at it and pass its attributes back up to God and that's what men do in order to deny the existence of God folks! They say that since evil is an obvious reality then God cannot exist or else He Himself is evil too! The only answer to this display of sinful (ill)logic is the Biblical doctrine of creation!

At this point it may do well for us to define exactly what evil is. The catechism tells us that sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of the law of God. The Bible agrees;

1Jo 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Additionally we are told that whatsoever is not of faith is sin so when a man does something that is in violation of his conscience he is sinning. Now that we have a good working, Biblical definition of evil all we have to do is apply this to God Himself and we will immediately see that His righteousness is not the same as human righteousness simply because God has a different standard than the creature. The creature's standard is the law of God and conscience; God's standard is His own character, not His law. Can God "violate His conscience"? No because the Bible says that "He cannot deny Himself". Can He violate His law that He has given to men? No! God cannot steal since everything already belongs to Him. He cannot lie because for Him to say that a thing is so is to make it so! "Let there be light!" And there was light. God cannot "obey His parents" for He has none! We can prove from what He does that He, in His glorious excellence, is not to be measured by the law of commandments. He, according to His eternal plan, causes every person to die when he does and by whatever cause he does, and to His own glory; and yet, God is not a murderer! He is indeed holy and His righteousness is absolute because He is His own, uncreated standard of righteousness and He Himself is absolute, whereas human righteousness is different in that it is a created righteousness. This is stated in plain language in Scripture;

Isa 45:8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down  righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

This verse is found in the context of the absolute sovereignty of God within the confines of our subject; the origin of all things including evil. This passage is dealing with the matter of morality. In the previous verse we are transported to "ground zero" in terms of the origin of all things which includes what we might call the "basics" of the universe; light, darkness, peace and evil and they all find their origin in GOD! In this verse the writer focuses in on the subject of righteousness. It is "poured down" from the skies and the very earth "opens up" and out of it salvation and righteousness spring forth. This is poetic language depicting the beauty of righteousness as it is joined to the salvation of God and this righteousness, the writer tells us in the closing phrase, has been created by the LORD! Therefore, this righteousness is not of His essence or nature or character. He does not look to this standard which He has created for man in order to derive His holiness from it. This righteousness is the standard for man to look to in order to know how to "reflect" the image of God and it is a created righteousness. God maintains a transcendent relationship to it. It is given by God to man in the form of commands and ordinances which He Himself is not subject to.

Nowhere else can be found such a distinct and clear assertion that God makes things without Himself being those things, and that He makes them out of nothing prior... NOT EVEN HIMSELF!
Those things created by God then include both righteousness and evil. Though He is sovereign over them and "connected" with them by virtue of giving them origin and keeping them in existence (Creation and Providence), yet He is in NO way that which He creates. The creation is objective to Him for, when He makes it, it is not He projected!  Every other "creation" doctrine simply assumes that things already existed (ask an evolutionist where the "stuff" came from that made the big bang; they usually tell you that matter is eternal) and that their pagan god molds them, as man does the raw materials of the earth. This is the only way that God can maintain both His goodness and omnipotence in the context of a universe containing evil. It is the only way that all three can co-exist and God NOT be evil!

The following are excerpts taken from A. A. Hodge's article..
GOD -- His Nature And Relation To The Universe

"God is transcendent; that is, he is a distinct Person, separate from the world and from all other persons. He is objective to each one of us, as a distinct Person. He created all things out of nothing. The universe is not a modification of his essence, nor is it confused with his substance; he is essentially something other than any one of his creatures. God is therefore a Person who is outside of and distinct from the world and all other persons."

Ro 9:14 What shall we say then? [Is there] unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

THE REAL QUESTION
All this having been said we are now prepared to strike at the heart of the matter. This is the grand daddy of the question as to the origin of evil in the universe and the only sane, Biblical answer to this one is the doctrine of creation which I just got finished laying out. Without this doctrine we are left with only 2 very grim possibilities; Either there is no God or if He does exist He is weak like men and cannot even help Himself, much less poor helpless creatures of the dust. With this question all theological and philosophical speculations spawned in the sink hole of human reasoning are thrown into complete chaos. I say, the only... the one and only answer  to this question is the Biblical doctrine of God's ability to create that which in no way is an extension of His glorious being and nature! In so doing God is totally unaffected by the qualities found in the universe. In order to get the full force of the impact of the question on Christianity don't think of it as a "possible" question put forth by me as a believer. Rather, imagine an unbeliever who wants to discredit the God of the Bible and uses this for that purpose; how would you answer him? The unbeliever asks you;...

Whereas; God is the final and ultimate source of all things...
Whereas; The origin of all things is discovered in His eternal decree...
Whereas; This decree existed in eternity within the mind of the Living Deity..
Whereas; Evil was a part of that plan, purpose and decree of God for the universe...
Then; What kind of a being claiming the attribute of omni-benevolence would even conceive of such a thing as evil in the first place? What kind of a "God" would plan, purpose and decree Adolf Hitler and Nero? What is it within the nature of God that would prompt Him to even think about the possibility of the greatest evil ever to be perpetrated in the universe... the execution of His own Son in time!?  Answer me that one. You can line up all the theologians in the world... and all the philosophers who ever lived and speculated on the meaning of life... line em up...  and I'll moe em down with this question. Is God some kind of a demented fiend to sit down and imagine living beings that He will bring into existence for the sole purpose of wreaking moral havoc on His universe and then consign them to the grim destiny of the fires of His wrath forever!!!??? Forget about... "how did Adam sin?"  A question like that is almost irrelevant compared to what I am asking here. We are talking about what took place in the mind of God in eternity, before anything ever existed. There were no "second causes"! There were no "principalities and powers" or beings such as the Devil to blame for evil's existence. There was only God and HE determined by an act of His divine mind and will, all by Himself!!  He directly, efficiently, and immediately decreed and predestined all the evil that was, is and ever shall be in His universe. Before all else existed, evil existed in eternity in the mind of God! If the mind of God is any indication of what He is like then He is a monster! How can a God who even conceives of evil claim to be all good? Either He is a wimp or else, by right of the decree found no place else but in His own mind, He is indeed Himself evil and the author thereof!

Gentlemen! How shall we answer such a charge?
The only sane answer is the Biblical doctrine of Creation which maintains both the holiness and the sovereignty of our God!

Consider this question; Is the decree itself part of, or an extension of the essence and nature of God? Is it a reflection of His character? In one sense the answer is Yes. Since God is eternal and His knowledge is also then the decree, in this sense, is co-eternal with God and reflects His eternal existence. Additionally, the decree is the product of the mind of God so how can it not be a part of His essence? Now, if this were all we had then we are indeed left with no other conclusion than that, since there is evil in the decree and the decree is a reflection of the nature of God then there must of necessity be evil in God! This is a very powerful challenge to the God of the Bible in the light of the reality of moral evil. How shall we proceed? We shall do so on the proposition, based on the creative power of God, that the elements contained in the eternal decree are NOT an extension or reflection of the Divine Nature! Just as God can create a universe which contains evil and He not be evil... so He can conceive of and decree evil and He not be so! Thus the decree is a product of the wisdom of God but it is NOT a projection of His holy nature! The answer to the question of "What kind of a being claiming the attribute of omni-benevolence would even conceive of such a thing as evil" is... An absolute Holy Being! A Holy God both can and did do such a thing. Does anybody here realize what "kind of a being" we are dealing with when we are talking about G-O-D?? He is beyond the human ken folks! He is the kind of a being who can conceive of, decree and bring into existence a universe containing evil and still retain His divine attribute of absolute holiness. Now... you ask how this can be? Well, we have reached the end of the line. If anybody but anybody could ever understand how this could possible be so then he would be GOD! It is not known how God does what He does but what He does is clearly given in the Bible and we are called upon to bow before such a God... or else go out and make a god we can understand  and enter into the fires of hell along with him! It is a HOLY GOD who conceived of and brought evil into being and if any one says that this makes God evil then he has not understood the God of the Bible or the doctrine of creation. Consider this verse;

Job 28:26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:

So God decreed rain, lightning and thunder. But I ask you, are any of these elements an essential part of the Deity? Are mountains, rivers, space, galaxies, funguses and Hitler a part of the divine essence? How in the world God can conceive of and create something that is so completely "other" than Himself is a question that must await future revelation for an answer?
For the present the Bible presents to us the grand announcement that in the beginning God;
And not just any god... but a God of pure burning holiness...

Isa 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! [Let] the potsherd [strive] with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
 

The Realms of God  part one

I welcome any input. jamesjay@paonline.com
Prove  All  Things  

Theodicy

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