George Amazing Grace (Second Edition)

God's Pursuit, Our Response
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4335-2477-6
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 152 Seiten

The doctrine of God's grace has sparked some heated controversies in the history of the Christian church. What are dispensations of grace? Is grace really irresistible? In Amazing Grace noted theologian Timothy George looks at some of these debated questions. Grounded in Scripture, his insights continually draw the reader back to the fundamental truth of God's free and sovereign favor to ill-deserving sinners. Originally written to address the 'Calvinism controversy' brewing within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), this study was used in thousands of churches and study groups throughout the SBC and beyond. Now this popular primer on the basic themes of Reformed theology has been updated and expanded. Though written from George's Southern Baptist perspective, the book's irenic tone appeals to a wide audience and shows how sound Reformed theology has taken root within several Reformation traditions.

Timothy George (ThD, Harvard University) is the founding dean of Samford University's Beeson Divinity School, where he teaches theology and church history. He serves as general editor for Reformation Commentary on Scripture and has written more than twenty books. His textbook Theology of the Reformers is the standard textbook on Reformation theology in many schools and seminaries.

Autoren/Hrsg.

George, Timothy

Leseproben

{ Two }

THE PROVIDENCE
MYSTERY

~ JOHN FLAVEL

There are many things Christians believe simply because they are undeniably taught in the Bible. Yet we cannot remove all questions and puzzlements. We cannot explain with precision how these things can be true in terms of human reason and logic. Consider the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Orthodox Christians of all confessions believe in the Trinity. We believe that the one true God is, and from all eternity has ever been, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yet, we ask, how can God be one and three at the same time? Or consider the fact of the incarnation. Nothing is more central to the gospel itself than John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” It’s a stupendous thought—the Creator of heaven and earth tethered to a human umbilical cord! How can this be, we wonder? How do we explain that Jesus was fully divine, “very God of very God,” as the Nicene Creed declares, and yet at the same time completely human with genes, chromosomes, and DNA molecules of his own, with eyes that cried real tears and toes that turned blue when he stubbed them?

Or, how about this: We believe that God is absolutely sovereign over all that he has made. And we also believe that he has given free moral agency and responsibility to the men and women created in his image. How can this be? Keep this question in mind as we examine what the Bible teaches about the providence of God—the way God sustains and governs the world and moves it along, guiding it moment by moment, toward its appointed end.

Before we consider the question of providence, let’s look at four words that are often used when we ponder the difficult questions that baffle the human mind, issues such as the Trinity or christology or the relationship between predestination and human freedom. The four words are

• A contradiction is a condition in which at least two things are at variance, that is, truly contrary to one another. A real contradiction involves a genuine discrepancy, not merely an apparent inconsistency or disagreement. In the garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve that death would be the penalty for eating the forbidden fruit. When Satan said, “You will not surely die,” he contradicted God (Gen. 3:4).
• An antinomy is a combination of two thoughts or principles, each perfectly true in its own right, that we cannot harmonize in our minds. J. I. Packer uses the example of light as an antinomy in modern physics. Does light consist of waves or particles? Good evidence supports both views, and both must be treated as true even though they seem incompatible with our current understanding of the universe.
• Having a meaning close to that of antinomy, the word paradox is sometimes used as synonymous with it, but there is an important distinction. Some scholars believe a paradox (from the Greek para, “beyond,” and doxa, “opinion” or “belief”) appears to be a contradiction. It seems to be something absurd, but when we look closer, it proves to be true in fact. For example, when Paul says “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10), he is speaking paradoxically, for his words are quite comprehensible, though still jarring, once we understand his intended use of them.
• The term mystery refers to a whole complex of ideas, including antinomies and paradoxes perhaps, that we know on good grounds to be true, but that are inexplicable or inscrutable. Mystery literally means something that has been kept secret. In theology, a mystery is an assumed truth that the human mind cannot comprehend but must accept by faith.

Christians are those who have already glimpsed something of the unfathomable “mystery” of God’s will in Christ (Eph. 1:9; see also Rom. 16:25–27), as we have seen in Paul’s depiction of God’s great purpose of grace. By his mercy and grace, God has let us in on his secret plan. And yet there is much that we do not know. We have not yet arrived. We don’t yet see “face to face,” but only partially, dimly. Sometimes life seems like a jigsaw puzzle with some of the pieces missing. “At present we are looking at puzzling reflections in a mirror. . . . At present all I know is a little fraction of the truth” (1 Cor. 13:12, PHILLIPS). For this reason Christians walk through life by faith, not by sight. Only God is omniscient. We know some things surely, but we don’t know everything for sure. We have been saved, and yet we still suffer. We live in hope for we are not exempt from the “groanings” of the fallen world around us. “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (Rom. 8:24–25).

THE DOCTRINE OF PROVIDENCE

What is divine providence? Let’s look at two classic definitions of providence from the Baptist heritage. The first comes from a seventeenth-century confession of faith called The Orthodox Creed, published by General or Arminian Baptists in 1679:

The almighty God that created all things and gave them their being by his infinite power and wisdom, doth sustain and uphold and move, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things from the greatest to the least, according to the counsel of his own good will and pleasure, for his own glory and his creatures’ good.2

The second definition comes from the first confessional statement published by Southern Baptists after the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention in 1845. We call this the Abstract of Principles. It is still used as the primary doctrinal standard (and subscribed by all professors) in two of that denomination’s seminaries:

God from eternity decrees or permits all things that come to pass, and perpetually upholds, directs and governs all creatures and all events; yet so as not in any wise to be the author or approver of sin nor to destroy the free will and responsibility of intelligent creatures.3

These quotations show that, despite their different understandings about some matters (such as predestination and the possibility of losing one’s salvation), Baptists with both Arminian and Calvinistic leanings are largely agreed in their teaching about divine providence. Here is common ground on which we can stand united.

We can summarize the general thrust of these two statements in three affirmations:

Nothing Exists except in Some Relationship to God

At the heart of biblical faith stands the doctrine of creation “out of nothing” (ex nihilo in Latin). God didn’t make the world out of some kind of primordial matter, matter that already existed. Plato depicted him doing this in the Timaeus—an Artisan shaping the world out of a kind of cosmic modeling clay. This is not the biblical view of creation. No, God spoke, and things that did not previously exist came into being. Every molecule or atom in the universe owes its origin to the sovereign Lord of time and eternity. The twenty-four elders in heaven acknowledge this truth when they sing,

Worthy are you, our lord and God,
     to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created
     and by your will they existed and were created. (Rev. 4:11)

God created all things, visible and invisible. Heaven, too, is a created place, along with the angels and other heavenly beings. The prayer of Ezra in Nehemiah 9:6 clearly connects creation and providence: “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.” As Dale Moody put it, “Belief in God as creator denies self-existence to things. Things are dependent upon God not only in their origin but also in their continuation and consummation. The action of God in the continuation of creation is his work of preservation.”4

Nothing Happens apart from God’s Purposeful Activity

When the Abstract of Principles declares that God “decrees or permits all things that come to pass,” it simply echoes the clear teaching of the Bible. The Psalms are filled with affirmations of God’s comprehensive providence:

The lord has established his throne in the heavens,
     and his kingdom rules over all. (ps. 103:19)

And again:

For I know that the lord is great,
     and that our lord is above all gods.
Whatever the lord pleases, he does,
     in heaven and on earth,
     in the seas and all deeps.
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth,
     who makes lightnings for...