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Chapter 5 Of Providence Section
1 God, the Great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct,
dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the
greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence,
according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel
of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power,
justice, goodness, and mercy. The authors of the Westminster
Confession compressed the doctrine of the Trinity into one section
of five lines, but when they came to God's control over all
His creatures and all their actions, they wrote two fairly lengthy
chapters. The eight sections of chapter
three outline the Bible's teaching on predestination to life and
foreordination to death. so that those who sincerely obey
the gospel may praise God in humility and be assured of their
eternal election from the certainty of their effectual calling. Chapter
5 differs in that predestination is more specific and providence
is more general, and also in that it considers God's controlling
power during the course of history rather than His eternal plan
itself. The devout scholars who made
these chapters so long must have done so under the belief, a belief
fully justified, that the Bible has a great deal to say about
God's sovereignty and that it is all-important. Calvinism proportions
its emphases to those of the Bible. Not all Christians are
Calvinists. Some do not believe that all
things come to pass immutably and infallibly. They wish to
reserve some sphere in which man can be independent of God.
It must not be supposed that these people are therefore lacking
in sincerity and devotion, or that they are outside the fold
of Christ, but such is the clarity of the Bible in its teachings
on God's sovereignty that Presbyterians cannot convince themselves that
such people have a sufficient understanding to discharge the
responsibilities of an ecclesiastical office. They stand in need of
further instruction. They should study the proof texts
cited by the Confession. For example, he doeth according
to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand. Daniel 4.35. What to
have the Lord pleased that did he? Psalm 135.6. Being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Ephesians 1, 11, and many other
verses. Because the doctrines of predestination
and providence are sometimes misunderstood, the Calvinists,
when they explain these doctrines, regularly try to absolve them
of the charge of fatalism. Then, too, because the words
predestination, foreordination, and election are indisputably
in the Bible, The non-Calvinists also try to rid the Bible of
any appearance of fatalism. Although the latter and some
of the former succeed better in removing the predestination
than the fatalism, there is a technical and there is a popular view of
fatalism. The more technical view, if the
word is to be used at all, is that of scientists and philosophers
who deny that the universe has a purpose. Natural processes
seem not to be directed to any foreseen end. Such is the view
of Spinoza, Bertrand Russell, and others. Obviously, this is
exactly the opposite of the biblical doctrine of providence. God sees
the end from the beginning and controls all his creatures and
all their actions so as to guarantee the planned result. In this sense,
the Bible is not fatalistic. A more popular view comes from
Moslem countries. My uncle once hired a chauffeur
to drive him around a mountainous part of Turkey. As the chauffeur
kept up too fast a speed around the sharp curbs along the precipices,
my uncle urged more caution. But the Turk replied that the
date of their deaths was fated, and if this was the day, caution
would be of no use, whereas if this was not the day, caution
was unnecessary. The Turk was clever, but not
Calvinistic. The Bible teaches that all things
are certainly determined, but that God's providence, Chapter
5, Section 2, arranges events according to the nature of second
causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently. God does not
decree an auto wreck apart from its causes. Caution is the usual
cause of safety, and wrecks are caused by recklessness. Superficially
similar is another popular view to the effect that fatalism means
that man should sit quietly by and do nothing to avert the tragedies
which threaten him. Not very many people are tempted
to believe such a theory. It is not much of a danger to
Christianity, but if a few are so tempted, they can easily see
that the Bible commands us to do various things. Adam was commanded
to subdue nature to his needs. Abraham was commanded to leave
his home. Christ, who was delivered up
by the determinate counsel of God, went deliberately to his
death. None of these sat idly by. Now, no one denies that the Bible
contains these commands and these actions. The Bible also teaches
predestination and election. If a person is puzzled, and thinks
these two facts constitute an inconsistency, a puzzle, or a
paradox, he ought at least admit that the Bible so teaches. Therefore,
he ought to preach both and slight neither. Unfortunately, his bewilderment
is likely to reduce the force of his preaching. But it is not
necessary to remain bewildered. This is not to say that a man
can become omniscient. and solve all the problems with
which he may be confronted. It does mean, however, that the
Bible itself, all of which is profitable for doctrine, contains
enough information to show that action and volition by man are
not inconsistent with poor ordination by God. God decreed the peculiar
status of the Jews, and he decreed to bring it about by Abraham's
journey to Palestine. God decreed that Joseph would
be sold as a slave in Egypt. in order to preserve the family
from famine. God decreed the death of Christ
from before the foundation of the world, and therefore Christ
steadfastly set his face toward Jerusalem. It was by means of,
not in spite of, these volitions and actions that God had determined
to accomplish his purpose. The Christian should always remember
that God is the potter and man is the clay. of the same lump
God can make a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor. The
Christian should also remember that God works in us of his own
good pleasure, both to will and to do. So remembering, the Christian
will be a Calvinist and will praise God that his servants
at Westminster constructed our confession as a standard against
error and as a bulwark of truth. Section 2 Although in relation
to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all
things come to pass immutably and infallibly. Yet by the same
providence he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature
of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently. Section 3. God in his ordinary
providence maketh use of means. It is free to work without, above,
and against them at his pleasure. Section 2 first acknowledges
that all events are predetermined. The course of history has from
all eternity been immutably and infallibly fixed. But this does
not deny the role of secondary causation, and secondary causation
seems to be either necessary, free, or contingent. What do these three words refer
to? In theology and philosophy, necessity
has been regarded sometimes as mechanical causation and sometimes
as logical implication. One may say that if a given force
is applied to one end of a lever, the other end will, of necessity,
lift a certain weight. Or one may say that two premises
necessarily imply a given conclusion. Spinoza held that the world follows
necessarily from God as conclusions follow from premises. More frequently,
philosophers have defended mechanical necessity. Which does the confession
refer to? Similarly, one would like to
know the meaning of freely and contingently. What the Reformation
theologians meant by these terms may be fairly well surmised from
a passage in Jerome Zankeus' book, Absolute Predestination,
The Will of God, Position 11. He writes, Position 11. In consequence of God's immutable
will and infallible foreknowledge, whatever things come to pass,
come to pass necessarily, though with respect to second causes
and us men, many things are contingent, that is, unexpected and seemingly
accidental. Thus the term contingent refers
to man's way of looking at events, or more explicitly to man's incomplete
knowledge of how the events were caused. The scripture references
appended to this section of the confession also provide some
hints as to how these words should be understood. They refer to
the succession of seed time and harvest, summer and winter, the
sun as a light for the day, and the moon by night. Presumably
these things are examples of what is necessary, but the framers
may not have meant that these things occur by the philosophic
theory of mechanism. Other references point to accidental
homicide, shooting an arrow at random, and the role of Assyria
in carrying out God's purposes without knowing it. Are these
pre- or are they contingent? Can we be sure that they are
not necessary? Is the shooting an arrow, even
at random, any less mechanical than the alteration of summer
and winter? Theories of causation have varied
greatly over the ages, but whatever our theory of secondary causation
may be, the scripture is clear that God ordains events in relation
to each other, and not in the disjointed fashion that the turkey
chauffeur had in mind. The strong recommendations frequently
found on these pages may suggest to someone that the confession
itself is the very word of God. Of course, this is not true.
The Presbyterian churches recognize the Bible alone as the Word of
God, and they explicitly refer to the Confession and catechisms
as subordinate standards of the Church. No claim is made that
the Confession is infallible. Through the years, different
Presbyterian denominations have altered it in one way or another. Later we shall see one chapter
that was substantially altered. And in other chapters there may
be errors or at least infelicities in a few phrases. Such may be
the case here in section 3. The first idea is that God uses
means to accomplish his purpose. This was said before and is incontestably
true. But is God free to work without,
above, and against them? One might reply that God can
do all things. He is omnipotent, quite true,
but irrelevant. The first thing we must do is
to determine what without, above, and against mean. Let us take
these three terms in reverse order. One of the proof texts
shows that God can work against means, refers to the miracle
of the floating axe head. The other proof text concerns
the safety of the three young Hebrews in Nebuchadnezzar's fiery
furnace. Now if the word against means
nothing other than God's power to work miracles, and thus to
accomplish his aim in opposition to the usual processes of nature,
it is clear that the Bible supports this word in the Confession.
What then is meant by working above means? Here again the one-proof
text has to do with the miraculous, or at least the very unusual,
birth of Isaac. Perhaps then above and against
are synonymous. Next we ask, does God ever work
without means? Hosea 1.7 merely says that God
will not save the Israelites by means of sword and battle,
but there is no indication that God will not use some other means. Matthew 4.4, another proof text,
says that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word of God. This surely does not teach that
God works without means. In fact, it states what the means
are. The third proof text is Job 34.10. How this verse got attached to
this phrase in the confession is a puzzle. It seemed to be
completely beside the point. And if so, the confession just
might be an error in using the word without. Think a moment
first, however. Does God ever accomplish his
purpose without using some means or other? Perhaps in two of God's
actions, he uses no means. In creating the world from nothing,
there were no means to use. Also, in continuing to uphold
in existence the universe in its entirety, there could be
no means. But these two actions are not
to be classed as His ordinary providence. And so we may continue
to wonder whether this is a mistake in the Confession. Section 4
The Almighty Power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness
of God, so far manifest themselves in His Providence, that it extended
itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels
and men, and that not by a bare permission, but such as hath
joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise
ordering and governing of them in a manifold dispensation. to
his own holy ends, yet so as the sinfulness thereof proceedeth
only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy
and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approve
of sin. Section 5. The most wise, righteous,
and gracious God doth oftentimes leave for a season his own children
to manifold temptations and the corruption of their own hearts.
to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them
the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts,
that they may be humbled, and to raise them to a more close
and constant dependence for their support upon himself, and to
make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin,
and for sundry other just and holy ends. Section 6 As for those
wicked and ungodly men whom God as a righteous judge for former
sins doth blind and harden, from them he not only withholdeth
his grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their
understandings and brought upon their hearts, but sometimes also
withdraweth the gifts which they had, and exposeth them to such
objects as their corruption makes occasion of sin, and withal gives
them over to their own lusts. the temptations of the world
and the power of Satan, whereby it comes to pass that they harden
themselves, even under those means which God useth for the
softening of others. Section 7. As the providence
of God doth in general reach to all creatures, so after a
most special manner it taketh care of his church, and disposeth
all things to the good thereof. God's relation to the sinful
acts of men, the stumbling block that so many people find in chapter
3, is considered again in section 4 of chapter 5. The sphere of
providence extends to the first sin of Adam and to all other
sins of angels and men. God's relation to sin is not
that of their permission. In fact, as Calvin shows in his
Institutes 2, 4, 3, and 3, 23H, Permission in the case of the
Almighty has no specific meaning. The proof texts cited in the
Confession, and many other passages not cited, amply support the
creedal statement. God bounds, orders, and governs
all sinful actions for his own holy purpose. How could it be
otherwise? This does not mean, as the Confession
makes plain, that God commits sin, or that God approved sin. On the contrary, God punishes
sin. Many people think that this is paradoxical, but is it not
clear in the case of good deeds that God does not himself do
the good deed that his servant does? It was Abraham, not God,
who left Ur to go to Canaan. Similarly, it was Herod and Pilate
with the Gentiles who crucified Christ. God approved Abraham's
act and disapproved of Pilate's, but he foreordained both. And in particular it says that
the crucifixion was determined before the world was. The scripture
is clear, but some people are recalcitrant. Section 5 spells
out the details of God's providence with reference to his children.
Section 6 does the same with the children of disobedience.
There is little to do but verify the fact that the confessional
statements simply summarize hundreds of biblical passages. The last
section of one sentence applies the same truth to the Church.
Chapter 5: What Do Presbyterians Believe?
Series The Westminster Confession
Chapter 5 of 'What Do Presbyterians Believe? The Westminster Confession: Yesterday and Today' written by Gordon H. Clark and read by a professional reader.
| Sermon ID | 1260614223 |
| Duration | 19:42 |
| Date | |
| Category | Special Meeting |
| Language | English |
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