What's Providence?
Providence, in one sense is the antithesis
or
opposite of deism! (No Jay; Pantheism is the opposite of deism). OK!
Deism
and Pantheism are the two extremes with the correct middle balance
being
the Biblical doctrine of Providence. Deism says that God actively
creates
the universe but then departs and leaves it completely to natural laws.
He is not in any way involved in what goes on in the cosmos. An old
acquaintance
of mine, when confronted with the gospel says that "God is too busy to
be concerned with me". Good luck at the judgment eh? The technical name
for such a view is the Mechanical Theory of the Universe.. or of
Providence. Let me here quote A. A. Hodge's description of deism...
This view (mechanical theory) supposes
that
when God created the universe he endowed all the various material and
spiritual
elements with their respective properties and powers, that he then
grouped
them in certain combinations and proportions, and so made them subject
to certain general laws. The world is thus a machine which the maker
has
so calculated that it works out for itself all his purposes. Having
wound
it up he leaves it to itself. God is the first cause in the
sense
of his being the first member in an endless series of causes always
flowing
on further and further from their source.
Outlines of Theology Chap 14; quest #26
What does all that gobbledygook mean in plain talk? Well if you go back to the illustration of the sun and planets, the condition of the sun having moved away from the planet, leaving it to subsist on its own is a good illustration. In effect it says that God has no involvement in time, and history is simply the outworking of things according to the laws found in nature and in the creature. Men act and do what they do apart from any interaction or intervention on God's part. He is off somewhere else on some more important business than what is going on in the world. One thing in addition... God having created the universe is said to be the first cause from which all other causes flow. So even if deism were true everything could ultimately be traced back to God anyway and we are still not relieved of the pressure of having Him as the originator of all things including evil! Profound huh? Onward.
Pantheism, on the other hand is the idea that the universe is a necessary emanation of the divine being. From the Greek words Pan, meaning all, and Theos meaning God we get the idea that God is somehow in all things. All is God and God is all. Again A. A. Hodge puts it this way...
Pantheism is absolute monism, maintaining
that the entire phenomenal universe is the ever changing existence-form
of the one single universal substance, which is God.
Ibid p50 #19
What does that gobbledygook mean? It
means
that both God and the creation are of one, universal "substance" and
there
is no difference between God and the universe.
The pantheist then looks at the creation
and says... ah-h! I see God! I see Him in the beautiful sunset, in the
mighty oak tree, in the vast wonders of outer space with its billions
of
stars and galaxies... etc. In other words, wherever he looks in
the
universe there he finds God. The obvious problem with this unbiblical
concept
is that the universe, besides containing many works of beauty by which
the pantheist likes to define God, also contains evil! To be consistent
the pantheist needs to look at Hitler and the holocaust, cancer, crime
and death... and define God by these elements of the creation. But as
soon
as he does so he of course ends up with an absurd monster for a god! He
has in effect nullified the doctrine of the Holiness of God whereby He
maintains a separation from His creation. The true balance is neither
deism
or pantheism but the doctrine of Providence. But not simply a
"mechanical"
providence whereby God merely moves things around as though they were
so
many pieces on a chess
board. Living creatures are not chess pieces, which
are inanimate objects just sitting there until someone moves them.
Living
creatures have a mind and will and the ability to choose their
actions...
for which they are morally responsible. Providence therefore must be
considered
in the light of the doctrines of creation and concurrence.
A simple definition of Providence is... the execution of the eternal decree by God in time. It is the outworking in history of what God has determined shall be in eternity. To "execute" is to actively do something. Thus the executioner flexes his mighty arm muscles, bends his back and delivers the ax to the neck of the poor unfortunate! Or he may just pull a switch or give an injection. You get the picture. The general commands his troops to execute a maneuver and they don't just passively stand there and look silly! They muster all their energy and act out the command. Thus God, in executing His decree actively does something. This something is called by theologians... Providence. So God is actively involved in all things whatsoever come to pass. He doesn't just sit around and wait for them to happen all by themselves. Nor does He somehow "arrange" circumstances so things will go according to plan while He takes a back seat. He exercises His Divine energy to bring things to pass. Like the Decree, Providence entails and includes all things; every last one of them; including grass, kings and evil. You see then how closely providence is connected to the decree and how much God is involved in them both. Providence involves all the actions and thoughts of His creatures. Whatever any one thinks or does is controlled and directed by God to the intent that His purpose shall come to pass. This truth finds its clarity in the doctrine of Divine Concurrence, which I referred to in the paper on Permission. Since many are not familiar with concurrence I will attempt to explain here what the theologians mean by this. I'll start with L. Berkhof
*Concurrence may be defined as the cooperation of the divine power with all subordinate powers, according to the pre-established laws of their operation, causing them to act, and to act precisely as they do.* Systematics p171 His italics. On the next page he elaborates...
*The Bible clearly teaches that the
providence
of God pertains not only to the being but also to the actions or
operations
of the creature.
The general truth that men do not work
independently,
but are controlled (my italics) by the will of God, appears
from
several passages of Scripture. Gen 45:5... Ex 4:11,12
Jos 11:6... Prov 21:1... Ezra 6:22... Deut
8:18... More particularly, it is also evident from Scripture that there
is some kind of divine co-operation in that which is evil. According to
2Sam 16:11 Jehovah BADE Shimei to curse David. (my emphasis).
The Lord also calls the Assyrian
"the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is mine indignation,"
Isa
10:5 Moreover, He provided for a lying spirit in the mouth of the
prophets
of Ahab, 1Kings 22:20-23.* ibid p 172 except remarks in
parenthesis.
By now, if you are still reading this you are probably trying to put your eyeballs back in their sockets on your way to the floor... having fallen off the edge of your chair! And we haven't looked at any of these passages yet to see if Mr. Berkhof knows what he's doing! Berkhof continues; under Errors That Should be Avoided he says....
"The co-operation of God and man is sometimes represented as if it were something like the joint efforts of a team of horses pulling together, each one doing his part. This is a mistaken view of the distribution of the work. As a matter of fact each deed is in its entirety both a deed of God and a deed of the creature." My emphasis. This is what Berkhof means by saying that the deed is product of both causes. See page 173 section c. which I quoted in the Permission paper. He continues... "It is a deed of God in so far as there is nothing that is independent of the divine will, and in so far as it is determined from moment to moment by the will of God. And it is a deed of man in so far as God realizes it thru the self-activity of the creature. There is interpenetration here, but no mutual limitation." ibid p172 2b
What he is saying is that both God and the creature are involved in the production of creaturely actions and operations. Yet God does not "move men" like so many pieces on a chess board. Nor do we have "strings like a puppet"... (By the way gents the proper word is >marionette<. A puppet slips over the hand and has no strings.) Rather he "moves" them by His divine power whereby they "move" themselves!! A verse or two will illustrate this.
Ac 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Here we see that God upholds and sustains
His creatures for in Him we live. We see that God is also involved
in the actions of His creatures for in Him we move as
well.
Who is doing the moving here? We are. But we do not move
independently
of the power of God. What motivates us to move? The exercise of our
will.
We move volitionally... yet the will is controlled by the power of God!
Interestingly Paul is applying this to the
unbeliever who "lives and moves" in the realm of sin and he cannot do
so
apart from the concurring power of God Himself! It is speaking of both
the being and the actions of the creature. This is providence within
the
context of concurrence and is Biblical. Divine concurrence is not
merely
the sustaining of one's being but also the "Divine co-operation" in the
actions of the creature as well. This is clearly the case with respect
to the "good" actions of men in salvation. Notice;
Php 2:12 So then, my
beloved, even as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but
now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling; [Man's volitional activity... for which he is
responsible.]
13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
[God's concurring activity
which 'moves' man.]
God's active involvement in the actions
of men! This is a clear illustration of divine concurrence. Both
God
and man "working". This clearly destroys deism, pantheism and...
permission!
In deism God is separated from His creation and things happen apart
from
God; in pantheism the creation is an emanation of God and is therefore
of the same nature, or substance. Permission says that God wills the
action
but then steps back and leaves the creature to his own power. Thus it
reverts
to a hybrid of deism. But the Biblical doctrine of divine concurrence
is
none of these; it is unique; it allows God to be a Holy God who is
totally
sovereign and also allows man full responsibility for his actions! This
includes both good and sinful acts of men and angels. If you think that
this makes God the author of sin then you have not understood the
doctrine
of creation.
God can and does create that which is not of His essence or nature. This comes to further light when we consider the question of the origin of the soul. Consider this question. How is a sinful soul brought into existence? We answer this by citing Charles Hodge as quoted by James Boyce in his Abstract of Theology. The subject is the creation of the human soul. In answering the idea that the soul is not produced by the direct creation of God but rather "mediately, through the operation of second causes".. Boyce quotes Hodge;
"This", says Dr. Hodge, "is a near approach to the mechanical theory of the universe (or Deism; JK) which supposes that God, having created the world and endowed His creatures with certain faculties and properties, leaves it to the operation to these second causes."
Pause for comments. Wait-a-minit folks! Doesn't Hodge believe in second causation as set forth in the confessions? I say he does. The problem is that most of us haven't the foggiest notion as to the correct meaning of second causation. If we did we never would have invented the unbiblical doctrine of permission! The word "second" means just that; it does not mean "another"! It means... that there are two causes involved in an action! But his purpose her is to show that in the bringing into existence of a sinful human soul, God works apart from these second causes. Hodge continues...
"A continued superintendence of Providence may be admitted, but the direct exercise of the Divine efficiency is denied."
Here he makes his point! Direct exercise of the Divine efficiency!? Within the context of the creation of a sinful soul? Yes! Remember the subject here is how a sinful soul comes into existence. Hodge and Boyce are both creationists which teaches that a sinner is produced by the direct exercise of the Divine efficiency. There are lots of folks walking around who would call this blasphemy but it is Biblical! Hang tough; we ain't done yet.
"The new birth is not (my emph JK) the effect of second causes. ....... It is due to the immediate exercise of the almighty power of God. God's relation to the world is not that of a mechanist to a machine, nor such as limits Him to operating only through second causes. He is immanent in the world.... ... ...so God, as immanent... constantly guides all the operation of second causes, and at the same time exercises uninterruptedly His creative energy." Abstract of Theology J. P. Boyce p211
What's the point of all this? In considering that the root of sin is found in the human soul Hodge is saying that God is the direct agent in the creation of the soul. He has to be since He is the only One with the ability and power to create! Therefore, it is God who creates a sinner even apart from and beyond concurrence for it is He alone who acts in creation. This in no way negates the fact that there are two human beings involved in the process of re-production but this is no warrant to say that the creature somehow has the ability to create! In the exercise of the power of creation, even of an evil being, there are no second causes involved! God creates the sinner "all by Himself". Thus Isaiah 45:7 now begins to take on its proper understanding without making God out to be sin's author;
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these [things].
We then may argue from the greater to the
lesser in the following way. If God can and does create a sinful soul
by
"direct Divine efficiency" and still be Holy, can He not control and
move
men to act and think albeit sinfully by the same process and still be
Holy?
Yes He can. How so? By right of His Divine ability to both create and
control
that which in no way is "connected" to His Holy nature. We are not
pantheists! God is not in the actions and being of man
as
God. He is "in" them by right of Divine power as expressed in the
doctrine
of Concurrence, which brings us to the end of the matter for if anyone
out
there can understand God's Divine Power then you may sit down next to
Him
on His throne!!! for you would be equal to Him. Now I can hear you all
shouting... show me this in the Bible!! Chapter and verse!!
OK... Some passages that show folks acting
because God moves them to act.
2Ch 18:31 And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It [is] the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about him to fight: but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; and God moved them [to depart] from him.
2Sa 24:1 And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
Hebrew stuff. The word for "move" is in
the
form HIPH'IL in both passages which, for all us dullards in Hebrew,
depicts
Active Causation. It is translated - persuade 5 times, move 5,
set
on 2, stir up 2, away 1, entice 1, provoked 1, removed
1;
for a total of 18 usages in the OT.
It means that God Actively Caused....
David to sin. This is the force of the Hebrew language. It's what
Gordon
Clark meant by the term "positive causation" as opposed to permission.
You could correctly translate "and he (God)
provoked David against them". In fact this is how the cross reference
involving
Satan in David's sin translates it. Notice; (Ill bet some of you
thought
I would avoid this verse Ö )
1Ch 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
Same word. So gents... whatever else these passages teach, to say that they teach divine permission with regard to the sin of David is pure madness! John Gill tries to avoid the pressure of the 2Sam verse by saying "not the Lord, but Satan, as may be supplied from 1Ch 21:1;" Thus he uses the one verse to nullify the force of the other... A squirm job if ever there was one. Recall how I warned against "pitting" one passage of Scripture against another in my discussion of the will of God? This can produce nothing but error. You can cut these two passages any way you want to but we are still left with the testimony that God was involved here and it was NOT permission. God "moved" David to disobey. True, He used Satan but then... who "moved" Satan?! You see there is just no escape from the Biblical doctrine of positive causation with respect to God and evil. An honest interpreter is willing to face the pressure of both passages and when we do so we cannot avoid the conclusion that God was somehow actively involved in the sin of David. We are plainly told that He "moved" or provoked David to sin and He did so "actively". I say, he who attempts to place the entire weight of David's sin on Satan to the exclusion of God has abandoned all sane meaning of language. He who would attempt to resort to "divine permission" can only do so by mutilating the Hebrew language! You can blame neither GOD nor Satan for your sin; [The devil made me do it.] No he did not! We have here a devastating display of Divine concurrence whereby God actively moves His creatures to do His bidding. Applying this idea to our illustration of the boy in the surf... we need to see the lifeguard not only controlling the ocean but also actively moving the boy and causing him to engage in the decision of running into the dangerous surf... of his own volition... and perishing. So also David, in the making of a responsible decision to engage in the sin of numbering Israel, did so under the direct control and influence of the power of God operating according to His Divine concurrence whereby He actively moved David to do so. And yet, when David did so folks... he did so under the full influence of his own volitional choice. This is what the Bible means when it speaks of God who works all things according to His Divine purpose. What "god" do you worship?
*********************************************************************************************
Enough hot air! Let's see if all this is according to the Word of the Living God. After all this is the Prove All Things by the Bible web site...
Tons of Scripture teach this truth.
Eph 1;11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will:
The last phrase is the Holy Spirit's
definition
of Providence... God
working...
It is also a description of Divine
Concurrence!
God works all things... by His own power... according to His
purpose.
Human beings shall neither tie their shoe laces nor travel to the stars
merely because they decided to do so all by themselves! Whatever they
undertake to accomplish is under the direct control of Jehovah God and
shall bring about HIS purpose, not their's! Within the framework of the
entire course of history, whether it be in the physical or the spiritual
realm the almighty power of the Living God is the foundation of all
things.
Not a flea... not a microbe... not a sin... is outside of the control
and
purpose of Him who works all things...
What does it mean "to work"? The Greek word used is the one from which we get our word "energy" or... "energize"!
Ro 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
When you plant the apple seed and water it it doesn't just sit around waiting for something to happen. The little molecules inside that seed go to work in order to produce soon-to-be apple pie! So the motions of sins which were by the law didn't just hang out and wait for us to get into trouble. No, they were active; they "energized' us in in the production of fruit unto death!
Php 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my
absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God who works in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
The "work" in vs 12 is a different word from the one in vs 13. In vs 12 it means to do a work of labor... like chop wood, or kill sin! This is the business of the Christian life. We are not told to "energize" ourselves unto salvation. But we are told that it is God who does indeed "energize' us in order to do what we are supposed to... work out our salvation. Herein is a watershed passage on Divine concurrence. God works and man works. As Berkhof says, the action is the product of BOTH God and man. This is not to nullify sovereign grace in salvation. That indeed is a wonderful Biblical doctrine; salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end. But this passage is not teaching that particular truth. Rather it is teaching both the doctrine of concurrence which necessitates man's responsibility! If sovereignty goes to the extreme of denying man's responsibility we have departed from the gospel. So indeed it was God who "moved"; "energized" David to sin but it was also God who judged him for his sin. The only sane answer according to Scripture is Divine Concurrence. More...
1Kings 22:19 And he said, Hear thou
therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne,
and
all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his
left.
20 And the LORD said, Who shall
persuade
Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this
manner, and another said on that manner.
21 And there came forth a spirit,
and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
22 And the LORD said unto him,
Wherewith?
And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth
of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail
also: go forth, and do so.
23 Now therefore, behold, the LORD
hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the
LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.
If you ever want to see men get all bent
out of shape, squirm, carp, invent hermeneutics on the spot, and just
plain
old get all upset in general show them this passage. Especially watch
what
they do with verse 23 which tells us that the LORD put the lying spirit
in the prophets' mouths and not only that but it was the LORD Himself
who
spoke evil! In fact I will leave you all to invent your own
interpretations
to try and avoid the force of such a passage while I shall rest
comfortable
in the doctrine of Divine Concurrence which leaves the creature fully
responsible
for his actions while God actively moves him to sin and still remains
perfectly
holy! And oh yes... if you think this passage can be explained by
"permission"
then you must invent a new meaning for the doctrine of plenary or
verbal
inspiration and the meaning of words.
Let's talk; jamesjay[at]paonline[dot]com
Prove
All Things
r-jnd