Free Reformed Church of Calgary discussion
Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2
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Chapter 14: Providence (weeks 41-42)
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10. Providence—Preservation: It "it is the same omnipotent and omnipresent power of God that is at work both in creation and in providence" (p. 607). "Preservation tells us that nothing exists, not only no substance, but also no power, no activity, no idea, unless it exists totally from, through, and to God" (p. 605). "By preservation, with the same power [that God exercised in creation], God summons those things that have received an existence distinct from his being and are nevertheless solely and exclusively from, through, and to God. Creation yields existence, while preservation is persistence in existence… by creation God’s creatures have received their own unique existence, which is distinct from God’s being… [even so]… that existence… can never even for a moment be viewed as an existence of and by itself, independent from God" (p. 608). God holds everything together by his sovereign power.
11. Providence—Concurrence (Secondary Causes): When we speak of secondary causes, we acknowledge that God uses instrumental means to execute his decrees. I think this topic is commonly misunderstood so I will spend a bit more time explaining it here. We will be referring to three terms: (1) first cause (i.e., original cause; or primary cause), (2) secondary cause (i.e., means; or instrumental cause), and (3) the end (i.e., the result; or the goal that is achieved). To illustrate the difference between these three terms, we can refer to Ezek. 11:19-20: "And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." There are three components to this passage: (1) the first cause is "I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you" and "I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh"; (2) the secondary (instrumental) cause is "That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them"; and (3) the end result is "they shall be my people, and I will be their God." Here we see that (1) God acts; (2) this causes man to act; and (3) this produces the end result. (Side note: I am indebted to Sung Im, a pastor at 라이프교회 LIFE Church in Plano, Texas, for this brief summary, which I adapted and edited for this discussion).
There are two common errors that are encountered when dealing with secondary causes. The first error is to deny secondary causes. This is the view held by pantheism. "In pantheism the secondary causes, that is, the immediate causes of things within the circle of created things, are identified with the primary cause, which is God. Between the two there is no distinction of substance and effect. Both materially and formally, God is the subject of all that happens, and hence also of sin. At best the so-called secondary causes are opportunities and passive instruments for the workings of God" (p. 613). By denying secondary (instrumental) causes, everything becomes identified with the primary cause (which is God) and God is thus even made into the author of sin! This error also tends towards Hyper-Calvinism. It assumes that if there is a first cause, then secondary (instrumental) causes are unnecessary to achieve the end result. This error minimizes (or outright rejects) the fact that God uses instrumental means to accomplish his ends. It teaches that the first cause produces the end result without the use of secondary causes (even though the Bible clearly teaches that secondary causes are used by God). This produces errors such as "If God predestines salvation for the elect, then why bother with evangelism?" (Note: the correct response is that God has explicitly ordained the outward proclamation of the gospel to be the means by which he effectually calls the elect).
The second error is rooted in Deism, which teaches that "secondary causes are separated from the primary cause and made independent." This error also surfaces in Pelagianism. According to this view, the end result is directly accomplished by the secondary cause, therefore the secondary cause must be the same as the first cause. This error essentially denies that secondary (instrumental) causes have their own causes. Rather, secondary causes produce the end result without necessitating a prior first cause. An example of a common error that arises from this teaching is to suppose that man has the natural ability to repent and believe in Christ because the Bible teaches the moral responsibility of all men to repent and believe. This error fails to recognize that saving grace is necessary (as a first cause) prior to man's response (with repentance and faith as a secondary cause) unto salvation (the end).
The Bible teaches that God uses secondary causes to accomplish his ends. Accordingly, God establishes natural laws in order to execute his decrees in his works of providence. "The whole creation is a system grounded in the ordinances of God (Gen. 1:26, 28; 8:22; Ps. 104:5, 9; 119:90–91; Eccles. 1:10; Job 38:10ff.; Jer. 5:24; 31:25ff.; 33:20, 25). On all creatures God conferred an order, a law that they do not violate (Ps. 148:6)" (p. 609). "The 'nature' of any particular created thing is precisely what the supreme Creator of the thing willed it to be" (p. 610). God commonly uses this system of natural laws to fulfill his purposes through secondary causes. "God so preserves things and so works in them that they themselves work along with him as secondary causes" (pp. 609-610). Even so, God sovereignly uses these secondary causes according to his purpose, but he is not subservient to them. "God built his laws into things, fashioning an order by which the things themselves are interconnected. God is not dependent on causes… In providence God respects and develops—and does not nullify—the things he called into being in creation… therefore, God preserves and governs all creatures according to their nature… he employs all sorts of creatures as means in his hand to fulfill his counsel and to reach his goal" (pp. 610-611). As an example, God has chosen to preserve our lives with food. While it is true that he could sustain our lives even without us eating, yet he chooses to use food as an instrumental cause of our survival, according to our created nature, and by his providence.
God's "will, his power, his being is immediately present in every creature and every event. All things exist and live together in him (Acts 17:28; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3). Just as he created the world by himself, so he also preserves and governs it by himself. Although God works through secondary causes, this is not to be interpreted, in the manner of Deism, to mean that they come in between God and the effects with their consequences and separate these from him" (p. 610). Although God commonly uses natural order to accomplish his will, we should remember that this natural order was setup by God himself. God is not restrained by it but rather freely uses it as he pleases. "For that reason a miracle is not a violation of natural law nor an intervention in the natural order. From God’s side it is an act that does not more immediately and directly have God as its cause than any ordinary event, and in the counsel of God and the plan of the world it occupies as much an equally well-ordered and harmonious place as any natural phenomenon" (p. 610).
Both the primary cause and the secondary cause can be rightly called causes. (For example, when a young child throws a ball and accidentally shatters a window, it is both correct to say that the ball [as a secondary cause] broke the window, as it is to say that the young boy who threw the ball [as the primary cause] broke the window). "The constant teaching of the Christian church… has been that the two causes… are at the same time also true and essential causes. With his almighty power God makes possible every secondary cause and is present in it with his being at its beginning, progression, and end" (p. 614). "The product is also in the same sense totally the product of the primary as well as totally the product of the secondary cause. But because the primary cause and the secondary cause are not identical and differ essentially, the effect and product are in reality totally the effect and product of the two causes, to be sure, but formally they are only the effect and product of the secondary cause. Wood burns and it is God alone who makes it burn, yet the burning process may not be formally attributed to God but must be attributed to the wood as subject. Human persons speak, act, and believe, and it is God alone who supplies to a sinner all the vitality and strength he or she needs for the commission of a sin. Nevertheless the subject and author of the sin is not God but the human being. In this manner Scripture draws the lines [distinguishing] God’s sovereignty and human freedom" (pp. 614-615).
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12. Providence—Government: When we speak of God's governance, we are describing how God, as King, sovereignly guides all things towards a final goal that he has determined (pp. 605, 615). "God is king in the absolute and true sense… His sovereignty is original, eternal, unlimited, abundant in blessing. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:6). His royal realm is the whole of the universe. His are the heavens and the earth (Exod. 19:5; Ps. 8:1; 103:19; 148:13). He possesses all the nations (Ps. 22:28; 47:8–9; 96:10; Jer. 10:7; Mal. 1:14) and is supreme in all the earth (Ps. 47:2, 7; 83:18; 97:9). He is king forever (Ps. 29:10; 1 Tim. 1:17); no opposition stands a chance against him (Ps. 93:3–4)… By his rule he upholds the world and establishes it so that it will not be moved (Ps. 93:1); he ordains the light and the darkness (Ps. 104:19–20), commands the rain and withholds it (Gen. 7:4; 8:2; Job 26:8; 38:22ff.), gives snow and hoarfrost and ice (Ps. 147:16), rebukes and stills the sea (Nah. 1:4; Ps. 65:7; 107:29), sends curses and destruction (Deut. 28:15ff.). All things fulfill his command (Ps. 148:8). [He] deals with the inhabitants of the earth according to his will (Dan. 4:35), and directs the hearts and thoughts of all (Prov. 21:1)" (p. 616). God's government extends over everything. It "extends not only to the good things of which he is the Giver both in nature and in grace (James 1:17); nor only to the beneficiaries of his favor, whom he chooses, preserves, cares for, and leads to eternal salvation; but also to evil and to those who love evil and do it" (p. 616).
Even sin "is subject to God’s rule. At its inception God sometimes acts to stop it (Gen. 20:6; 31:7), destroys the counsel of the wicked (Ps. 33:10), gives strength to resist temptation (1 Cor. 10:13), and always thwarts sin in that he prohibits it and inhibits the sinner through fear and trembling in his conscience" (p. 617). "But this prevention… is [not the only way] in which God governs sin. Many times he allows it to happen and does not stop it. He gave Israel up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own counsels (Ps. 81:12), allowed the nations to walk in their own ways (Acts 14:16; 17:30), gave people up to their own lusts (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). And it can similarly be said that God permitted the fall of Adam, the murder of Abel, the iniquity of the people before the flood (Gen. 6:3), the sale of Joseph (Gen. 37), the condemnation of Jesus, and so on… even from its earliest beginning sin is subject to God’s governing power and sovereignty. He creates and arranges the opportunities and occasions for sinning to test humans, thereby either to strengthen and to confirm them or to punish and to harden them (Gen. 27; 2 Chron. 32:31; Job 1; Matt. 4:1; 6:13; 1 Cor. 10:13). Although at first a given sin seemed to be nothing but an arbitrary act of humans, it turns out later that God had his hand in it and that it happened according to his counsel (Gen. 45:8; 2 Chron. 11:4; Luke 24:26; Acts 2:23; 3:17–18; 4:28)… He hardened and blinded certain persons (Exod. 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:20, 27; 11:10; 14:4; Deut. 2:30; Josh. 11:20; Isa. 6:10; 63:17; Matt. 13:13; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; John 12:40; Acts 28:26; Rom. 9:18; 11:8); he turned a man’s heart so that it was hateful and disobedient (1 Sam. 2:25; 1 Kings 12:15; 2 Chron. 25:20; Ps. 105:24–25; Ezek. 14:9). God sent an evil spirit or a lying spirit (Judg. 9:23; 1 Sam. 16:14; 1 Kings 22:23; 2 Chron. 18:22). Using Satan he incited David to number the people (2 Sam. 24:1; 1 Chron. 21:1), prompted Shimei to curse David (2 Sam. 16:10), gave people over to their sins, allowed them to fill the full measure of their iniquity (Gen. 15:16; Rom. 1:24), sent a strong spirit of delusion (2 Thess. 2:11), and set Christ for the fall and rising of many (Luke 2:34; John 3:19; 9:39; 2 Cor. 2:16; 1 Pet. 2:8; etc.)" (p. 617). We can nevertheless be comforted by the fact that "Not only at the outset but also upon its continuation God keeps sin under his omnipotent control. Repeatedly he restrains or restricts it, inhibits its momentum and puts a stop to it by his judgment (Gen. 7:11; Exod. 15; Matt. 24:22; 2 Pet. 2:9), but also in cases where he allows it to continue he directs it (Prov. 16:9; 21:1), and whether forgiving or punishing it, he ultimately makes it subservient to the fulfillment of his counsel, the glorification of his name (Gen. 45:7–8; 50:20; Ps. 51:4; Isa. 10:5–7; Job 1:20–22; Prov. 16:4; Acts 3:13; Rom. 8:28; 11:36)" (pp. 617-618).
We should be reminded (as we are when we read Psalm 73, or sing psalter 201 from our Church's Psalter) that God is in full control and sees the afflictions of his people. "The prosperity of the wicked is a mere illusion and in any case temporary, while the righteous, even in their deepest suffering, still enjoy the love and grace of God (Ps. 73; Job). The suffering of the faithful is frequently rooted not in their personal sin but in the sin of humankind, and has its goal in the salvation of humankind and the glory of God. Suffering serves not only as retribution (Rom. 1:18, 27; 2:5–6; 2 Thess. 1–2) but also as testing and chastisement (Deut. 8:5; Job 1:12; Ps. 118:5–18; Prov. 3:12; Jer. 10:24; 30:11; Heb. 12:5ff.; Rev. 3:19), as reinforcement and confirmation (Ps. 119:67, 71; Rom. 5:3–5; Heb. 12:10–11; James 1:2–4), as witness to the truth (Ps. 44:24; Acts 5:41; Phil. 1:29; 2 Tim. 4:6–8), and to glorify God (John 9:2). In Christ, justice and mercy embrace, suffering is the road to glory, the cross points to a crown, and the timber of the cross becomes the tree of life. The end toward which all things are being led by the providence of God is the establishment of his kingdom, the revelation of his attributes, the glory of his name (Rom. 11:32–36; 1 Cor. 15:18; Rev. 11:15; 12:10; etc.)" (p. 618).
13. The Doctrine of Providence Guides Us: "The doctrine of providence is not a philosophical system but a confession of faith… that… neither Satan nor a human being nor any other creature, but God and he alone—by his almighty and everywhere present power—preserves and governs all things… For the providence of God encompasses all things, not only the good but also sin and suffering, sorrow and death. For if these realities were removed from God’s guidance, then what in the world would there be left for him to rule? God’s providence is manifest not only, nor primarily, in the extraordinary events of life and in miracles but equally as much in the stable order of nature and the ordinary occurrences of daily life… [knowing God's providence] makes us grateful when things go well and patient when things go against us, prompts us to rest with childlike submission in the guidance of the Lord and at the same time arouses us from our inertia to the highest levels of activity. In all circumstances of life, it gives us good confidence in our faithful God and Father that he will provide whatever we need for body and soul and that he will turn to our good whatever adversity he sends us in this sad world, since he is able to do this as almighty God and desires to do this as a faithful Father" (pp. 618-619). "Now, providence serves to take the world from its beginning and to lead it to its final goal" (p. 609). When we rightly understand providence, we "see God’s counsel and hand and work in all things" and we are therefore driven "to develop all available energies and gifts to the highest level of activity [i.e., to glorify God]—that is the glory of the Christian faith and the secret of the Christian life" (p. 605).
Continuing Our Studies: Beginning in October, we'll be starting volume 3 of Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics. Click here for the reading schedule. Please join us as we continue in our studies and feel free to invite friends to join us too! Let's praise God for the opportunity to learn more about him!
1. Providence Follows Creation: "When on the seventh day God completed his work that he had done, he rested on the seventh day from all his work (Gen. 2:2; Exod. 20:11; 31:17). Thus, Scripture describes the transition from the work of creation to that of preservation… this resting was not occasioned by fatigue, nor did it consist in God standing idly by [Isa. 40:28]… God’s 'resting' only indicates that he stopped producing new kinds of things (Eccles. 1:9–10)… and that he delighted in this completed work with divine pleasure (Gen. 1:31; Exod. 31:17; Ps. 104:31). Creation now passes into preservation" (pp. 591-592). While creation and providence are distinct in a sense, the "difference does not lie in God’s being as such but in the relation that God assumes toward his creatures" (p. 607). God is always the Creator, Preserver, and final Disposer of all things.
2. The Necessity of Providence: God's providence includes his preserving and governing work over creation (see Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q&A 11). In short, providence refers to how God sustains and maintains everything he created from falling into ruin. "Preservation… is also a divine work, no less great and glorious than creation. God is no indolent God… He works always (John 5:17), and the world has no existence in itself. From the moment it came into being, it has existed only in and through and unto God (Neh. 9:6; Ps. 104:30; Acts 17:28; Rom. 11:36; Col. 1:15ff.; Heb. 1:3; Rev. 4:11)… The whole world with everything that is and occurs in it is subject to divine government. Summer and winter, day and night, fruitful and unfruitful years, light and darkness—it is all his work and formed by him (Gen. 8:22; 9:14; Lev. 26:3ff.; Deut. 11:12ff.; Job 38; Ps. 8, 29, 65, 104, 107, 147; Jer. 3:3; 5:24; Matt. 5:45; etc.). Scripture knows no independent creatures; this would be an oxymoron… They are in his hands as clay in the hands of a potter, and as a saw in the hand of one who pulls it (Isa. 29:16; 45:9; Jer. 18:5; Rom. 9:20–21)" (p. 592).
3. God's Special Providence Over His People: "God’s providential government extends very particularly to his people. The entire history of the patriarchs, of Israel, of the church, and of every believer, is proof of this. What other people meant for evil against them, God turned to their good (Gen. 50:20); no weapon fashioned against them will succeed (Isa. 54:17); even the hairs on their head are all numbered (Matt. 10:30); all things work together for their good (Rom. 8:28)" (p. 592). How comforting to know that our Father cares for his children!
4. Knowledge of Providence Through General and Special Revelation: Analogous to creation, the fullness of providence is also disclosed to us through both general and special revelation. For this reason, providence is called a "mixed article." Providence, in some shape or form, is "known in part to all humans from God’s revelation in nature. It is an article of faith in every—even in the most corrupt—religion. One who denies it undermines religion. Without it, there is no longer any room for prayer and sacrifice, faith and hope, trust and love. Why serve God… if he does not at all care about us?" (p. 593). Nevertheless, a complete understanding of providence can only be known through special revelation, as revealed through the Holy Bible. "In Scripture belief in God’s providence is absolutely not based solely on God’s revelation in nature but much more on his covenant and promises. It rests not only on God’s justice but above all on his compassion and grace, and it presupposes the knowledge of sin… [and] also the experience of God’s forgiving love" (p. 594).
5. Providence is a Part of the Christian Faith: Providence is experientially made known to the Christian, and heartily accepted and received as true. But, to the non-Christian, it is a difficult doctrine to accept. "For the 'natural' human being, so many objections can be raised against God’s cosmic government… But the Christian has witnessed God’s special providence at work in the cross of Christ and experienced it in the forgiving and regenerating grace of God, which has come to one’s own heart. And from the vantage point of this new and certain experience in one’s own life, the Christian believer now surveys the whole of existence and the entire world and discovers in all things, not chance or fate, but the leading of God’s fatherly hand… It is above all by faith in Christ that believers are enabled—in spite of all the riddles that perplex them—to cling to the conviction that the God who rules the world is the same loving and compassionate Father who in Christ forgave them all their sins, accepted them as his children, and will bequeath to them eternal blessedness. In that case faith in God’s providence is no illusion, but secure and certain" (p. 594).
6. Providence Defined: Although the term "providence" is not one that is used in Scripture, it is nonetheless a concept that is thoroughly ingrained in the Bible. Simply put, providence is God's activity throughout all of history. The Bible documents this activity. "Scripture in its totality is itself the book of God’s providence… it refers to creating (Ps. 104:30; 148:5); making alive (Job 33:4; Neh. 9:6); renewing (Ps. 104:30); seeing, observing, letting (Job 28:24; Ps. 33:14ff.); saving, protecting, preserving (Num. 6:24ff.; Ps. 36:6; 121:7–8); leading, teaching, ruling (Ps. 9:19–20; 25:5, 9; etc.); working (John 5:17); upholding (Heb. 1:3); caring (1 Pet. 5:7)" (p. 595). All these refer to God's providence. "Hence, according to Scripture and the church’s confession, providence is that act of God by which from moment to moment he preserves and governs all things" (p. 596). It is an outward work of God (opera ad extra) subsequent to creation.
7. Chance and Fate Are Non-Christian: There are only two alternatives for those who reject providence: chance (a product of Deism) and fate (which arises from pantheism).
Fate (pantheism): With pantheism, the distinction between God and creation is erased. Just as creation is erased, so is providence. To the pantheist, everything is governed by the laws of nature. (The laws of nature are equated to God's decrees). "On that view there is no room for miracle[s], the self-activity of secondary causes, personality, freedom, prayer, sin, and religion as a whole. [Pantheism] takes its adherents back into the embrace of a pagan fate" (p. 599). "The distinguishing feature of the theory of fate is… the idea that all existence and occurrence is determined by a power that coincides with the world and that, apart from any consciousness and will, determines all things through blind necessity" (p. 599). Therefore, according to pantheistic fate, "all things happen as a result of an irresistible blind force having neither consciousness nor will… apart from the will of God and men" (p. 600). Everything is governed by natural laws.
Christian response to fate: We reject fate. "On the Christian position, the only 'necessity of order' is the wise, omnipotent, loving will of God… the natural order is not behind and above, nor outside of and opposed to, God’s will, but grounded in the will of an omnipotent and loving God and Father, governed by that will and serviceable to that will" (p. 600). Natural laws do not stand as a blind coercive power, but are rather contained in God's foreknowledge and will.
Chance (Deism): "On the other side of this spectrum stands Deism, which separates God and the world. This position is one that, in total or in part, separates the creatures from God, once they have been created; and then, again in larger or smaller part, it allows them to exist and function on their own power, a power received at the time of creation. Deism thus basically revives the pagan theory of chance" (pp. 600-601). It is as if God, after creating the world and setting it into motion, stepped aside and let everything unfold according to its own power. "The relation between God and the world is like that between a mechanical engineer and a machine. After making it and starting it, he leaves it to its own devices and only intervenes if something has to be repaired" (p. 601). Furthermore, the theory of chance lends itself to the idea of free will; creatures are believed to have the ability to live independently from God. "Deism in principle [denies] that God [works] in creation in any way other than in accordance with and through the laws and forces of nature" (p. 602). God's "preservation" is no longer an active work, but merely viewed as a passive ("negative") act wherein he does not interfere with or "destroy the essences, powers, and faculties of created things but [leaves] them to their own" (p. 601). Deism lends itself to Arminianism—where man is the final arbiter of his own destiny.
Christian response to chance: We reject chance. "Although Arminianism was condemned at Dordrecht [at the Synod of Dort] and expelled from the Reformed domain, as an intellectual trend it found acceptance everywhere and penetrated all Christian countries and churches" (p. 602), and the same is true today! "Deism is essentially irreligious. For the Deist the salvation of humanity consists not in communion with God but in separation from him. The Deist’s mind is at ease only in detachment from God" (p. 603). The most logical, consistent, and natural conclusion of Deism is practical atheism—a universe that completely detaches itself from God. The world is ruled by chance, not God.
* A denial of creation leads to pantheism; a denial of providence leads to Deism. Only Christian theism correctly maintains both creation and providence (cf. p. 605).
8. Providence Provides Comfort: We can be sure that "all created things exist in the power and under the government of God; neither chance nor fate is known to Scripture (Exod. 21:13; Prov. 16:33). It is God who works all things according to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11) and makes all things serviceable to the revelation of his attributes, to the honor of his name (Prov. 16:4; Rom. 11:36)" (p. 593). Whereas neither chance nor fate can provide hope during times of distress and turmoil, providence is far different. Providence "is a source of consolation and hope, of trust and courage, of humility and resignation (Ps. 23; 33:10ff.; 44:4ff.; 127:1–2; 146:2ff.; etc.)" (p. 594). As the Puritan Thomas Watson once said, "It is one heart-quieting consideration in all the afflictions that befall us, that God has a special hand in them: 'The Almighty had afflicted me.' Instrument can no more stir till God gives them a commission, than the axe can cut of itself without a hand. Job eyed God in his affliction: therefore as Augustine observes, he does not say, 'The Lord gave and the devil took away.' but 'The Lord had taken away'" (Thomas, Isaac David Ellis. The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations. Edinburgh: Moody, 1975. p. 13). "All things have a cause, and that cause is ultimately a component in the almighty and all-wise will of God" (p. 604).