Calvin on Creation and Providence in his Institutes of the Christian Religion 1.14-18
By Craig Manners
26th April 2009
Introduction:
Creation and Providence are two topics which very much go hand in hand. Calvin’s view is that God made all things from nothing (creation) and He nourishes and preserves everything He created (providence).
In these chapters Calvin talks about God’s creation, firstly in terms of the celestial sphere, of angels and their role towards us, and of demons, then more specifically about man, with a focus on being created in the image of God, then he discusses the reality and consequences of the first sin on us; the nature of man; the question of free will; and a wonderfully helpful and powerful discussion of the doctrine of providence.
Calvin’s methodology in these chapters is consistent with the way he does theology. He is guided by two principles, firstly that all theology must be rooted in Scripture and secondly the purpose of theology is to lead people to trust in and worship God.
In Chapter 14 we see Calvin deal with:
1- The creation of the world generally in Sections 1 and 2.
2- The subject of angels, including bad angels, or devils in Sections 3-19.
3- The practical use to be made of the history of creation in 19-22.
1 (Sections 1-2): The creation of the world generally.
Calvin does not go into great details about creation in the Institutes, possibly because he does so in his commentary about Genesis.
Now, Calvin aims in chapter 14 to simply have people see the goodness of God toward them in creation. He makes the point that before God made Adam He fully provided for him by making everything else.
Calvin says, “The mere fact of creation should lead us to acknowledge God, but to prevent our falling away to Gentile fictions, God has been pleased to furnish a history of the creation.”
Calvin has a clear understanding of the fickleness of man. He sees that in order to protect ourselves from ourselves and our tendency to invent false ideas and false gods and “wander to and fro in uncertainty”, and “in order that the faithful might not fall away to Gentile fictions” it was necessary that God provide us with a history of the creation.
“Those who now indulge their petulance, and refuse to take warning, will learn, when too late, how much better it had been reverently to regard the secret counsels of God, than to belch forth blasphemies which pollute the face of heaven.”
“Therefore, let us willingly remain hedged in by those boundaries within which
God has been pleased to confine our persons, and, as it were, enclose our minds, so as to prevent them from losing themselves by wandering unrestrained.”
Calvin warns against human speculations, and shepherds his readers toward being content with revelation as given to us in Scripture. This point cannot be overemphasized.
Application:
Calvin’s concern should likewise be our concern. God has lovingly given us His Word so we do not go astray and “fall away to Gentile fictions.” We need to uphold the authority of Scripture at every turn. We can never indulge any suggestion of Scripture being errant or fallible. Like Calvin, we need to speak up for Scripture. We also need to speak out against subjective speculation.
2 (Sections 3-19): The subject of angels, including bad angels, or devils.
As we see from the large portion of this chapter devoted to the topic, Calvin goes to some lengths to discuss the subject of angels. In many ways this is not surprising and may reveal that it was as popular a topic in Calvin’s day as it is today, even among so called non-religious people.
He gives his reasons for this focus as being:
1. That we may learn from them also to acknowledge God.
2. That we may be put on our guard against the errors of the worshippers of angels and the Manichees.
The Manichees were followers of Manichaeus who died around 277 AD and who founded the dualistic sect of the Manicheans. Mani, as he was known, stated that a good God could not create evil. He in affect made the Devil eternal, whereas God alone is eternal and self-existent.
Calvin affirms that angels are real personal beings and defines them as: "celestial spirits whose ministry and service God uses to carry out all things he has decreed."
One popular and helpful area is in Section 7 where he tackles the angel’s role as the guardians of the elect.
Many people find it very comforting to think that everyone has a single guardian angel, but as Calvin points out, it is such that we not only have one angel watching over us but we have all angels watching over the safety of the Church.
To back up this point he refers to the fact that it is numerous angels not just one who rejoice over the repentance of one sinner, and it was numerous angels who carried Lazarus into Abraham’s bosom, not just one. But as Calvin reminds us in Section 11: “it ought, indeed, to be sufficient for us that the Lord declares himself to be our protector.” Why would we want just an angel to be our guardian when we have God Himself?
Sections 13 to 19 deals with bad angels or devils. Calvin’s aim in doing this is so that we may guard against their wiles and assaults and be stimulated to exercises of piety. The devil is the enemy of man and we should perpetually war against him. Calvin explains that the wickedness of the devil comes not from creation but by corruption. He argues that it is vain and useless to inquire into the mode, time, and character of the fall of angels.
Section 17 states that although the devil is always opposed to the will of God, he can do nothing without God’s permission and consent.
Application:
If you bring up the topic of angels with un-churched people today you will mostly find openness to discussing them, but if you bring up Jesus with the same people many will probably switch off immediately. This fascination with angels can of course be useful to our navigating people toward thinking about and discussing spiritual matters, but only if we wisely introduce Jesus into the conversation.
Bringing up the topic of a guardian angel may be a good conversation starter, and a good conclusion to be working toward could be outlining the superiority of and preferability of Jesus over any angel.
3-The practical use to be made of the history of creation in Sections 19-22.
The remainder of Chapter 14 briefly deals with the history of creation, and showing what is important for us to know concerning God. The special object of this knowledge is to prevent us, through ingratitude or thoughtlessness, from overlooking the perfections of God, and that by perceiving how these things were created for our use, we may be excited to trust in God, pray to Him, love Him and serve Him. Creation is an evidence for faith.[1]
Calvin makes the point that the creation account is clearly written for the layman to understand. The Roman Catholic church historically attempts to elevate the church and priests to the position of superiority over the masses, telling people they need them to interpret Scripture. Today it is scientists who are elevating themselves to positions of superiority, telling people that they are needed if we are to understand the origins of the universe. Calvin helpfully reminds us (Genesis, 86-87) that we need neither priests nor scientists. All we need is the revealed details given to us by our loving God, so as to protect us from gentile folly. Our answers are to be found in Scripture, nowhere else, and it is given to us in a form which we can all read and understand for ourselves.
Chapter 15:
Calvin now turns to the creation of mankind, and he does so with a view to further elaborate his assertion that we cannot have a clear and complete knowledge of God unless we have a corresponding knowledge of ourselves.
Calvin here investigates the state in which man was created. He looks at things such as:
1. A twofold knowledge of God- both before the fall and after it.
2. The immortality of the soul.
3. The image of God- which he sees as one of the strongest proofs of the immortality of the soul. He looks at what is meant by this image and whether there is any difference between “image” and “likeness.”
4. The image of God is in the soul. Calvin says: "although God's glory shines forth in the outer man, yet there is no doubt that the proper seat of his image is in the soul" (Battles).
5. In discussing Man’s free will he states that this freedom was lost by the fall.
Calvin emphasizes the importance of knowing humanity as created and fallen. We can't properly appreciate man as created without understanding man as fallen, and we need to understand man as fallen in light of what he was when originally created. It is like trying to understand salvation without understanding sin.
One reason this is important is because we have a tendency to blame God for our own evil - excusing our sin with comments like, "I'm only human" or "To err is human."
Calvin (1.15.2) asserts the obviousness of man as body and soul rather than as body, soul and spirit. He then proceeds to argue for the immortality of the soul from numerous specific texts of Scripture, and from points such as:
1. Our conscience's perception of right and wrong, dread of guilt and fear of punishment for evil.
2. The "many pre-eminent gifts of the human mind, superior to that of animals.
3. Our ability to conceive of God and the supernatural, and to discern what is right, just and honorable.
4. Our mental activity when asleep, in which we sometimes conceive of things that have never happened, or that will happen in the future.[2]
Ligon Duncan points out that Calvin argues that we learn what the image of God entails not only by studying man as originally created (Genesis 1-2), but by studying what Scripture says about the image of God as it is renewed in Christ. Ligon also says that section 8 is a "rock your world", as he puts it, important passage in the Institutes. In it, Calvin explains a fundamental source of confusion in the quest for "free will." [3]
Taking free will as an example: "The Philosophers," says Calvin, by discussing the question of free will apart from understanding the consequences of the fall were looking “for a complete building in a ruin,” and in “scattered fragments for a well-knit structure."[4]
Christians who follow the philosophers in failing to take into account the gravity of the fall when discussing human free choice are "playing the fool," as Calvin puts it. This section shows how crucial the doctrine of the fall is to Calvin's understanding of humanity.
Application:
We should learn something from this emphasis of Calvin on the doctrine of the Fall. Without a proper understanding of the Fall we really cannot understand God’s plan of and gift of salvation.
Chapter 16
Chapter 16 starts off with: THE WORLD, CREATED BY GOD, STILL CHERISHED AND PROTECTED BY HIM. EACH AND ALL OF ITS PARTS GOVERNED BY HIS PROVIDENCE.
Calvin here is beginning his discussion of providence by establishing the inseparable relationship between creation and providence. As Calvin says in his definition of providence, God “sustains, nourishes, and cares for, everything he has made, even to the last sparrow [cf. Matt. 10:29).”
This is reflected in The Westminster Shorter Catechism answer to the question, “What are God’s works of providence?” which says: “God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions.”
As Joseph Pipa Jr says, “If we neglect God’s role in governing what He created, we do not truly understand His role as Creator.” He also notes that Scripture demands we recognize God’s active preservation and governance of all things (and he quotes Ps. 33:6 and 13; and 104:27-30 and Acts 17:28.) [5]
As Calvin says: “It were cold and lifeless to represent God as a momentary Creator, who completed his work once for all, and then left it. Here, especially, we must dissent from the profane, and maintain that the presence of the divine power is conspicuous, not less in the perpetual condition of the world then in its first creation.”
As Ligon Duncan wrote, “For Calvin, providence means God governing, not merely watching, his creation (1.16.4). Calvin is emphasizing that providence involves God's will, and his acts. Nor is it merely a general control, but a specific direction. Indeed, Calvin asserts that God "directs everything by his incomprehensible wisdom and disposes it to his own end."[6]
God is omnipotent because “governing heaven and earth by his providence, he so overrules all things that nothing happens without his counsel.” 1:16:3.
The pastoral benefits to the souls of believers are many and valuable from the doctrine of providence, and Calvin dispenses well and effectively this stress alleviating, calming medicine in chapters 16 to 18.
From section 3:
An understanding of the detail specific nature of God’s involvement is helpful, and so we see Calvin focus much on refuting what he calls general providence. We need to know that God is the God of details and not just of the big general picture.
Calvin points out that those who confine the providence of God within narrow limits, as if he allowed all things to be borne along freely according to a perpetual law of nature, not only defraud God of his glory but they deprive themselves of a most useful doctrine.
God’s people can rest secure in the protection of Him to whose control everything that could do them harm is subject, by whose authority, Satan, with all his furies and engines, is curbed as with a bridle, and on whose will everything adverse to our safety depends. In this way, and in no other, says Calvin, can the immoderate and superstitious fears, excited by the dangers to which we are exposed, be calmed or subdued.
Section 5:
Calvin logically rejects the notion that God is only the first cause of all general effects and that then the rest is mechanical with no intervention from God, maintaining that His will is the certain and deliberate cause of all things. [7]
Proverbs 16:9 makes that point “In his heart a man plans his course but the Lord determines his steps.” As Romans 8:28 declares, that in “all” things God works for the good of those who love Him.” This “all” must mean absolutely every specific thing. And Hebrews 1:3 tells us that God sustains “all things by His powerful word”. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered.” (Matthew 10:29).
“All events, as well as the actions of inanimate objects, are governed by God’s secret plan and ordered by his power.”[8]
According to the general providence only view there: “is no place left either for the paternal favour, or the Judgments of God.”
“Surely, if the flight of birds is regulated by the counsel of God, we must acknowledge with the prophet, that while he “dwelleth on high,” he “humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth,” (Ps. 113:5, 6).”
Section 7:
“Indeed, there could be no serious meaning in our prayer for daily bread, if God did not with paternal hand supply us with food.”
“Hence we infer, not only that the general providence of God, continuing the order of nature, extends over the creatures, but that by his wonderful counsel they are adapted to a certain and special purpose.”
Section 8:
Calvin says, “We maintain, that by his providence, not heaven and earth and inanimate creatures only, but also the counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined.”
A conclusion of a proper understanding of providence is that nothing can happen simply by chance.
Calvin both rejects the accusation that his doctrine of providence is a Stoic doctrine of fate (determinism or fatalism), and at the same time repudiates the ideas of luck, fortune and chance. (1.16.2) [9]
He says that in times of sudden calamity or unexpected deliverance we ought to ascribe everything to God’s providence.[10]
Calvin says, “it was a true saying of Basil the Great, that Fortune and Chance are heathen terms; the meaning of which ought not to occupy pious minds. For if all success is blessing from God, and calamity and adversity are his curse, there is no place left in human affairs for fortune and chance.”
Application:
We have numerous opportunities to reject the way of the world when we hear or are tempted to say or use the words such as “chance,” “fluke,” “luck” or “lucky.” We should avoid their use and instead say boldly things like: “by God’s providence,” or “praise God,” or thanks to God,” or “God willing” etc.
Calvin reminds us in 1.16.9 that though all things are ordained by God's plan yet the events of our lives and world often look to us as if they are random and fortuitous. As Calvin says "the order, reason, end, and necessity of those things which happen for the most part lie hidden in God's purpose.
“This is a hugely important pastoral point. Consequently, the believer must realize that events will happen in this life that are simultaneously seemingly senseless and fortuitous and yet also part of God's perfect plan. Thus, in our hearts, we must be fixed on the truth that nothing happens that the Lord has not decreed and foreseen.” Ligon Duncan. [11]
Chapter 17:
In Chapter 17 Calvin now begins a sustained application of this truth. He says that when we are considering God's providence: Three things are to be noted.
1- God's providence must be considered with regard to the future as well as the past.
2- That in overruling all things, sometimes God works through means, or an intermediary, sometimes without an intermediary, sometimes contrary to every intermediary, as He decides.
3- The design of God is to reveal his concern for the whole human race, but especially his vigilance in ruling the Church, which he favours to watch more closely. (Special providence as described by the WCF).
He continues, “Now this, also, ought to be added, that although either fatherly favour or severity of judgment often shine forth in the whole course of providence, nevertheless sometimes the causes of the events are hidden."
Although the causes may be hidden from us, we rest in the reality that God has foreordained everything that comes to pass.
We must understand that God always has a purpose too. Adversity may be for reproof, for chastisement, for bringing a Christian to a deeper reliance of and trust in God, for the prevention of sin, for humility or to punish the wicked for example. We should therefore always hold back on any rash judgements of situations and just know that God is always good and wise.
Consequently, no mature believer will weigh the matter of God's providence without assuming a posture of reverence, awe and humility (1.17.2).[12] This is important, Calvin says, because, "it happens that today so many dogs assail this doctrine with their venomous bitings, or at least with barking: for they wish nothing to be lawful for God beyond what their own reason prescribes for themselves."
In this section, Calvin mentions individuals who draw unwarranted inferences from the providence of God. One false inference is that means do not matter. One might say, "if God has unchangeably set the time of my death, then what does it matter if I eat well, exercise, and see the doctor?" Calvin replies that the decree of God does not lay a hindrance before our decision making. On the contrary, "God's providence does not always meet us in its naked form, but God in a sense clothes it with the means employed" (1.17.4). [13]
Providence does not cancel out human responsibility. God uses means. Our duty is to obey God as He has revealed His will in Scripture.
Calvin also teaches that providence does not cancel out the need for human prudence or the necessity for us to plan for the future. As long as we keep everything consistent with God’s revealed will in His Word.
Another false inference that some draw from the doctrine of providence is that there is no difference between virtue and vice. Again, one might say, "if all things happen because of God's will, then how can one blame an adulterer for his adultery or a murderer for her murder? Aren't they just doing God's will?" Calvin answers, "I deny that they are serving God's will ... [rather] we must in our deeds search out God's will which he declares through his Word" (1.17.5). [14]
To help us guard against errors in thinking about providence Calvin gives us four points to meditate on:
1- God has ordered all events;
2- God orders all things for the well-being of His people;
3- God uses all agents, good and evil;
4- God exercises special care for His people. [15]
Properly understood, providence is the stay and support of the believer (1.17.6). God takes particular and "special care" not only of all humanity but also of the church. For Christians, God's "singular providence" means that God "will not suffer anything to happen but what may turn out to [our] good and salvation." [16]
“Thus for the good and safety of his people, he overrules all the creatures, even the devil himself, who we see does not attempt anything against Job without his permission and command. This knowledge is necessarily followed by gratitude in prosperity, patience in adversity and incredible security for the time to come.” (1.17.7)
As far as causes go, Calvin mentions that God is the primary cause, but man and the devil are secondary causes. By this distinction he frees God from accusations of being the author of sin.
Application:
Calvin develops three practical observations concerning the doctrine of providence:
1- The Doctrine of Providence helps us to face adversity properly. When we realize that the difficulties and setbacks we experience do not come ultimately from the hand of man but from the hand of God, we are able to control the "anger and impatience" that tempt us in those situations (1.17.8). In times of adversity we will look to God and wait patiently for His good and perfect purposes to be fulfilled. We therefore should not grumble and complain at the circumstances of our lives but rather trust and obey our sovereign God who is in full control of everything.
2- The Doctrine of Providence teaches us how to use means. As we face an uncertain future, we "entrust and submit" ourselves "to God's wisdom," and entrust the outcome to God's hand.
3- The Doctrine of Providence is the stay and support of the believer. Danger, disease, and death face every person every moment of the day. Neither unbeliever nor believer is exempt from the "innumerable evils that beset human life" (1.17.10). Should the believer respond to these uncertainties with anxiety, fear, and care, Calvin asks? No! "His solace, I say, is to know that his Heavenly Father so holds all things in his power, so rules by his authority and will, so governs by his wisdom, that nothing can befall except he determine it" (1.17.11). [17]
Chapter 18:
One misconception many have about providence is that evil happens by the "bare permission" but not by the will of God. This, Calvin says, is to represent God as seated "in a watchtower awaiting chance events, and his judgments dependent upon human will" (1.18.1). God is no such spectator, Calvin argues. God decrees and commands the execution of all things - the calamities that befell Job; the judgments of Israel and Judah by Assyria and Babylon; and crucifixion of Christ. God's will is the "cause" even of the "hardening" of sinners (1.18.2).
Calvin is very careful to make the point that we ought not to attribute to God the motives of others in the exercise of the will.
“It can happen that the same man wills with a bad will what God wills with a good will… For through the bad wills of evil men God fulfils what he righteously wills” (1.18.3). In others words, God, satan, people may will the same thing, but they will it differently, with different objectives in mind. We need to constantly keep this in mind and not to attribute to God the will of satan or people and so limit it.
In fact even in the same acts as man’s evil deed shows itself, so God’s justice shines forth” (1.18.4). Calvin also makes the powerful point “And surely in Judas’ betrayal it will be no more right, because God himself both willed that his Son be delivered up and delivered him up to death, to ascribe the guilt of the crime to God than to transfer the credit for redemption to Judas” (1.18.4)
In summary, Calvin says, "since God's will is said to be the cause of all things, I have made his providence the determinative principle for all human plans and works, not only in order to display its force in the elect, who are ruled by the Holy Spirit, but also to compel the reprobate to obedience" (1.18.2).
Calvin closes the chapter with the reminder that God has revealed these difficult matters to us because he has judged them "useful for men to know." Our proper response, therefore, is not to "scoff" but to "embrace with humble teachableness ... whatever is taught in Sacred Scripture." [18]
Conclusion:
I personally think that the Doctrine of Providence and a deep understanding of it is such a comfort to Christians that it ought to be a staple of discipling all new believers.
Once comprehended it acts as a soothing balm of comfort during all trials and afflictions, and it helps the believer to maintain a calmness of spirit during such times that they develop and convey a deep trust in God and are a strong magnet and witness to unbelievers, both of which brings much glory to God.
The opposite of this is naturally equally true. For Calvin, the biblical doctrine of providence is not a matter for idle speculation. On the contrary, "ignorance of providence is the ultimate of all miseries; the highest blessedness lies in the knowledge of it" (1.17.11).
So, in conclusion then, by the proper consideration of providence we should be delivered from much care and worry. We know that God is carefully directing absolutely every single aspect of our lives.
This is amazingly burden-lifting and should:
1- Motivate us to investigate God’s revealed will in Scripture and obey it.
2- Produce in us a sense of calmness and a deeper reliance upon and trust in God.
3- Give us a sense of security under God’s protection, freeing us from superstition.
If God knew us before we were born; if He knows every hair on our heads; if not one bird falls from the sky without His say so; if He works all things, good and bad for our ultimate good; then should we not simply focus our energy and attention toward obeying our loving God as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word?
Should we not calmly and confidently move through each and every crisis in our lives, looking to God, trusting Him and patiently, joyfully looking for how He is going to bring glory to Himself by rescuing us from those situations?
(Chapter 5 of the Westminster Confession of Faith on Providence is worth reading– below, and in times of trial a quick read of a great little booklet on providence called “Behind a Frowning Providence,” by John Murray brings a sure and immediate relief of burdens. This may currently be out of print but email [email protected] for a copy if interested).
Westminster Confession of Faith on Providence
WCF 5:1 God the great Creator of all things doth uphold,(1) direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things,(2) from the greatest even to the least,(3) by His most wise and holy providence,(4) according to His infallible foreknowledge,(5) and the free and immutable counsel of His own will,(6) to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.(7)
(1) Heb. 1:3.
(2) Dan. 4:34,35; Ps. 135:6; Acts 17:25,26,28; Job 38,39,40,41.
(3) Matt. 10:29,30,31.
(4) Prov. 15:3; Ps. 104:24; Ps. 145:17.
(5) Acts 15:8; Ps. 94:8,9,10,11.
(6) Eph. 1:11; Ps. 33:10,11.
(7) Isa. 63:14; Eph. 3:10; Rom. 9:17; Gen. 45:7, Ps. 145:7.
WCF 5.2 Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably, and infallibly;(1) yet, by the same providence, He ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.(2)
(1) Acts 2:23.
(2) Gen. 8:22; Jer. 31:35; Exod. 21:13; Deut. 19:5; 1 Kings 22:28,34; Isa. 10:6,7.
WCF 5.3 God, in His ordinary providence, maketh use of means,(1) yet is free to work without,(2) above,(3) and against them,(4) at His pleasure.
(1) Acts 27:31,44; Isa. 55:10,11; Hos. 2:21,22.
(2) Hos. 1:7; Matt. 4:4; Job 34:10.
(3) Rom. 4:19,20,21.
(4) 2 Kings 6:6; Dan. 3:27.
WCF 5.4 The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence, that it extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men,(1) and that not by a bare permission,(2) but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding,(3) and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to His own holy ends;(4) 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 approver of sin.(5)
(1) Rom. 11:32,33,34; 2 Sam. 24:1; 1 Chron. 21:1; 1 Kings 22:22,23; 1 Chron. 10:4,13,14; 2 Sam. 16:10; Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27,28.
(2) Acts 14:16.
(3) Ps. 76:10; 2 Kings 19:28.
(4) Gen. 1:20; Isa. 10:6,7,12.
(5) James 1:13,14,17; 1 John 2:16; Ps. 50:21.
WCF 5.5 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;(1) 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.(2)
(1) 2 Chron. 32:25,26,31; 2 Sam. 24:1.
(2) 2 Cor. 12:7,8,9; Ps. 73; Ps. 77:1,10,12; Mark 14:66-72; John 21:15,16,17.
WCF 5.6 As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous judge, for former sins, doth blind and harden,(1) from them He not only withholdeth His grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings, and wrought upon in their hearts;(2) but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had,(3) and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption makes occasions of sin;(4) and, withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan,(5) whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, even under those means which God useth for the softening of others.(6)
(1) Rom. 1:24,26,28; Rom. 11:7,8.
(2) Deut. 29:4.
(3) Matt. 13:12; Matt. 25:29.
(4) Deut. 2:30; 2 Kings 8:12,13.
(5) Ps. 81:11,12; 2 Thess. 2:10,11.
(6) Exod. 7:3; Exod. 8:15,32; 2 Cor. 2:15,16; Isa. 8:14; 1 Pet. 2:7,8; Isa. 6:9,10; Acts 28:26,27. WCF 5.7 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.(1)
(1) 1 Tim. 4:10; Amos 9:8,9; Rom. 8:28; Isa. 43:3,4,5,14.
[1] Joseph A. Pipa Jr, “Creation and Providence” 135
[2] Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-31-1151-1153.php>
[3] Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-32-1154-1157.php> 1.15.4 - 1.15.7
[4] Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-32-1154-1157.php> 1.15.4 - 1.15.7
[5] Pipa, 138
[6] Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-33-1158-1163.php>
Blog 34: 1.16.4 - 1.16.8 Posted by Ligon Duncan
[7] Pipa, 138
[8] Pipa, 138
[9] Ligon Duncan, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-34-1164-1168.php>
[10] Pipa, 141
[11] Ligon Duncan, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-34-1164-1168.php>
[12] Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-35-1169-1172.php>
[13] Guy Waters, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-36-1173-1177.php>
[14] Guy Waters, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-36-1173-1177.php>
[15] It is acknowledged that some thoughts, such as this 4 point list, and quotes have been used either directly from or gleaned generally, after reading either Calvin, Pipa and also from the Reformation21 website.
[16] Guy Waters, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-36-1173-1177.php>
[17] Guy Waters, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-36-1173-1177.php>
[18] Guy Waters, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-38-11712-1184.php>
By Craig Manners
26th April 2009
Introduction:
Creation and Providence are two topics which very much go hand in hand. Calvin’s view is that God made all things from nothing (creation) and He nourishes and preserves everything He created (providence).
In these chapters Calvin talks about God’s creation, firstly in terms of the celestial sphere, of angels and their role towards us, and of demons, then more specifically about man, with a focus on being created in the image of God, then he discusses the reality and consequences of the first sin on us; the nature of man; the question of free will; and a wonderfully helpful and powerful discussion of the doctrine of providence.
Calvin’s methodology in these chapters is consistent with the way he does theology. He is guided by two principles, firstly that all theology must be rooted in Scripture and secondly the purpose of theology is to lead people to trust in and worship God.
In Chapter 14 we see Calvin deal with:
1- The creation of the world generally in Sections 1 and 2.
2- The subject of angels, including bad angels, or devils in Sections 3-19.
3- The practical use to be made of the history of creation in 19-22.
1 (Sections 1-2): The creation of the world generally.
Calvin does not go into great details about creation in the Institutes, possibly because he does so in his commentary about Genesis.
Now, Calvin aims in chapter 14 to simply have people see the goodness of God toward them in creation. He makes the point that before God made Adam He fully provided for him by making everything else.
Calvin says, “The mere fact of creation should lead us to acknowledge God, but to prevent our falling away to Gentile fictions, God has been pleased to furnish a history of the creation.”
Calvin has a clear understanding of the fickleness of man. He sees that in order to protect ourselves from ourselves and our tendency to invent false ideas and false gods and “wander to and fro in uncertainty”, and “in order that the faithful might not fall away to Gentile fictions” it was necessary that God provide us with a history of the creation.
“Those who now indulge their petulance, and refuse to take warning, will learn, when too late, how much better it had been reverently to regard the secret counsels of God, than to belch forth blasphemies which pollute the face of heaven.”
“Therefore, let us willingly remain hedged in by those boundaries within which
God has been pleased to confine our persons, and, as it were, enclose our minds, so as to prevent them from losing themselves by wandering unrestrained.”
Calvin warns against human speculations, and shepherds his readers toward being content with revelation as given to us in Scripture. This point cannot be overemphasized.
Application:
Calvin’s concern should likewise be our concern. God has lovingly given us His Word so we do not go astray and “fall away to Gentile fictions.” We need to uphold the authority of Scripture at every turn. We can never indulge any suggestion of Scripture being errant or fallible. Like Calvin, we need to speak up for Scripture. We also need to speak out against subjective speculation.
2 (Sections 3-19): The subject of angels, including bad angels, or devils.
As we see from the large portion of this chapter devoted to the topic, Calvin goes to some lengths to discuss the subject of angels. In many ways this is not surprising and may reveal that it was as popular a topic in Calvin’s day as it is today, even among so called non-religious people.
He gives his reasons for this focus as being:
1. That we may learn from them also to acknowledge God.
2. That we may be put on our guard against the errors of the worshippers of angels and the Manichees.
The Manichees were followers of Manichaeus who died around 277 AD and who founded the dualistic sect of the Manicheans. Mani, as he was known, stated that a good God could not create evil. He in affect made the Devil eternal, whereas God alone is eternal and self-existent.
Calvin affirms that angels are real personal beings and defines them as: "celestial spirits whose ministry and service God uses to carry out all things he has decreed."
One popular and helpful area is in Section 7 where he tackles the angel’s role as the guardians of the elect.
Many people find it very comforting to think that everyone has a single guardian angel, but as Calvin points out, it is such that we not only have one angel watching over us but we have all angels watching over the safety of the Church.
To back up this point he refers to the fact that it is numerous angels not just one who rejoice over the repentance of one sinner, and it was numerous angels who carried Lazarus into Abraham’s bosom, not just one. But as Calvin reminds us in Section 11: “it ought, indeed, to be sufficient for us that the Lord declares himself to be our protector.” Why would we want just an angel to be our guardian when we have God Himself?
Sections 13 to 19 deals with bad angels or devils. Calvin’s aim in doing this is so that we may guard against their wiles and assaults and be stimulated to exercises of piety. The devil is the enemy of man and we should perpetually war against him. Calvin explains that the wickedness of the devil comes not from creation but by corruption. He argues that it is vain and useless to inquire into the mode, time, and character of the fall of angels.
Section 17 states that although the devil is always opposed to the will of God, he can do nothing without God’s permission and consent.
Application:
If you bring up the topic of angels with un-churched people today you will mostly find openness to discussing them, but if you bring up Jesus with the same people many will probably switch off immediately. This fascination with angels can of course be useful to our navigating people toward thinking about and discussing spiritual matters, but only if we wisely introduce Jesus into the conversation.
Bringing up the topic of a guardian angel may be a good conversation starter, and a good conclusion to be working toward could be outlining the superiority of and preferability of Jesus over any angel.
3-The practical use to be made of the history of creation in Sections 19-22.
The remainder of Chapter 14 briefly deals with the history of creation, and showing what is important for us to know concerning God. The special object of this knowledge is to prevent us, through ingratitude or thoughtlessness, from overlooking the perfections of God, and that by perceiving how these things were created for our use, we may be excited to trust in God, pray to Him, love Him and serve Him. Creation is an evidence for faith.[1]
Calvin makes the point that the creation account is clearly written for the layman to understand. The Roman Catholic church historically attempts to elevate the church and priests to the position of superiority over the masses, telling people they need them to interpret Scripture. Today it is scientists who are elevating themselves to positions of superiority, telling people that they are needed if we are to understand the origins of the universe. Calvin helpfully reminds us (Genesis, 86-87) that we need neither priests nor scientists. All we need is the revealed details given to us by our loving God, so as to protect us from gentile folly. Our answers are to be found in Scripture, nowhere else, and it is given to us in a form which we can all read and understand for ourselves.
Chapter 15:
Calvin now turns to the creation of mankind, and he does so with a view to further elaborate his assertion that we cannot have a clear and complete knowledge of God unless we have a corresponding knowledge of ourselves.
Calvin here investigates the state in which man was created. He looks at things such as:
1. A twofold knowledge of God- both before the fall and after it.
2. The immortality of the soul.
3. The image of God- which he sees as one of the strongest proofs of the immortality of the soul. He looks at what is meant by this image and whether there is any difference between “image” and “likeness.”
4. The image of God is in the soul. Calvin says: "although God's glory shines forth in the outer man, yet there is no doubt that the proper seat of his image is in the soul" (Battles).
5. In discussing Man’s free will he states that this freedom was lost by the fall.
Calvin emphasizes the importance of knowing humanity as created and fallen. We can't properly appreciate man as created without understanding man as fallen, and we need to understand man as fallen in light of what he was when originally created. It is like trying to understand salvation without understanding sin.
One reason this is important is because we have a tendency to blame God for our own evil - excusing our sin with comments like, "I'm only human" or "To err is human."
Calvin (1.15.2) asserts the obviousness of man as body and soul rather than as body, soul and spirit. He then proceeds to argue for the immortality of the soul from numerous specific texts of Scripture, and from points such as:
1. Our conscience's perception of right and wrong, dread of guilt and fear of punishment for evil.
2. The "many pre-eminent gifts of the human mind, superior to that of animals.
3. Our ability to conceive of God and the supernatural, and to discern what is right, just and honorable.
4. Our mental activity when asleep, in which we sometimes conceive of things that have never happened, or that will happen in the future.[2]
Ligon Duncan points out that Calvin argues that we learn what the image of God entails not only by studying man as originally created (Genesis 1-2), but by studying what Scripture says about the image of God as it is renewed in Christ. Ligon also says that section 8 is a "rock your world", as he puts it, important passage in the Institutes. In it, Calvin explains a fundamental source of confusion in the quest for "free will." [3]
Taking free will as an example: "The Philosophers," says Calvin, by discussing the question of free will apart from understanding the consequences of the fall were looking “for a complete building in a ruin,” and in “scattered fragments for a well-knit structure."[4]
Christians who follow the philosophers in failing to take into account the gravity of the fall when discussing human free choice are "playing the fool," as Calvin puts it. This section shows how crucial the doctrine of the fall is to Calvin's understanding of humanity.
Application:
We should learn something from this emphasis of Calvin on the doctrine of the Fall. Without a proper understanding of the Fall we really cannot understand God’s plan of and gift of salvation.
Chapter 16
Chapter 16 starts off with: THE WORLD, CREATED BY GOD, STILL CHERISHED AND PROTECTED BY HIM. EACH AND ALL OF ITS PARTS GOVERNED BY HIS PROVIDENCE.
Calvin here is beginning his discussion of providence by establishing the inseparable relationship between creation and providence. As Calvin says in his definition of providence, God “sustains, nourishes, and cares for, everything he has made, even to the last sparrow [cf. Matt. 10:29).”
This is reflected in The Westminster Shorter Catechism answer to the question, “What are God’s works of providence?” which says: “God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions.”
As Joseph Pipa Jr says, “If we neglect God’s role in governing what He created, we do not truly understand His role as Creator.” He also notes that Scripture demands we recognize God’s active preservation and governance of all things (and he quotes Ps. 33:6 and 13; and 104:27-30 and Acts 17:28.) [5]
As Calvin says: “It were cold and lifeless to represent God as a momentary Creator, who completed his work once for all, and then left it. Here, especially, we must dissent from the profane, and maintain that the presence of the divine power is conspicuous, not less in the perpetual condition of the world then in its first creation.”
As Ligon Duncan wrote, “For Calvin, providence means God governing, not merely watching, his creation (1.16.4). Calvin is emphasizing that providence involves God's will, and his acts. Nor is it merely a general control, but a specific direction. Indeed, Calvin asserts that God "directs everything by his incomprehensible wisdom and disposes it to his own end."[6]
God is omnipotent because “governing heaven and earth by his providence, he so overrules all things that nothing happens without his counsel.” 1:16:3.
The pastoral benefits to the souls of believers are many and valuable from the doctrine of providence, and Calvin dispenses well and effectively this stress alleviating, calming medicine in chapters 16 to 18.
From section 3:
An understanding of the detail specific nature of God’s involvement is helpful, and so we see Calvin focus much on refuting what he calls general providence. We need to know that God is the God of details and not just of the big general picture.
Calvin points out that those who confine the providence of God within narrow limits, as if he allowed all things to be borne along freely according to a perpetual law of nature, not only defraud God of his glory but they deprive themselves of a most useful doctrine.
God’s people can rest secure in the protection of Him to whose control everything that could do them harm is subject, by whose authority, Satan, with all his furies and engines, is curbed as with a bridle, and on whose will everything adverse to our safety depends. In this way, and in no other, says Calvin, can the immoderate and superstitious fears, excited by the dangers to which we are exposed, be calmed or subdued.
Section 5:
Calvin logically rejects the notion that God is only the first cause of all general effects and that then the rest is mechanical with no intervention from God, maintaining that His will is the certain and deliberate cause of all things. [7]
Proverbs 16:9 makes that point “In his heart a man plans his course but the Lord determines his steps.” As Romans 8:28 declares, that in “all” things God works for the good of those who love Him.” This “all” must mean absolutely every specific thing. And Hebrews 1:3 tells us that God sustains “all things by His powerful word”. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered.” (Matthew 10:29).
“All events, as well as the actions of inanimate objects, are governed by God’s secret plan and ordered by his power.”[8]
According to the general providence only view there: “is no place left either for the paternal favour, or the Judgments of God.”
“Surely, if the flight of birds is regulated by the counsel of God, we must acknowledge with the prophet, that while he “dwelleth on high,” he “humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth,” (Ps. 113:5, 6).”
Section 7:
“Indeed, there could be no serious meaning in our prayer for daily bread, if God did not with paternal hand supply us with food.”
“Hence we infer, not only that the general providence of God, continuing the order of nature, extends over the creatures, but that by his wonderful counsel they are adapted to a certain and special purpose.”
Section 8:
Calvin says, “We maintain, that by his providence, not heaven and earth and inanimate creatures only, but also the counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined.”
A conclusion of a proper understanding of providence is that nothing can happen simply by chance.
Calvin both rejects the accusation that his doctrine of providence is a Stoic doctrine of fate (determinism or fatalism), and at the same time repudiates the ideas of luck, fortune and chance. (1.16.2) [9]
He says that in times of sudden calamity or unexpected deliverance we ought to ascribe everything to God’s providence.[10]
Calvin says, “it was a true saying of Basil the Great, that Fortune and Chance are heathen terms; the meaning of which ought not to occupy pious minds. For if all success is blessing from God, and calamity and adversity are his curse, there is no place left in human affairs for fortune and chance.”
Application:
We have numerous opportunities to reject the way of the world when we hear or are tempted to say or use the words such as “chance,” “fluke,” “luck” or “lucky.” We should avoid their use and instead say boldly things like: “by God’s providence,” or “praise God,” or thanks to God,” or “God willing” etc.
Calvin reminds us in 1.16.9 that though all things are ordained by God's plan yet the events of our lives and world often look to us as if they are random and fortuitous. As Calvin says "the order, reason, end, and necessity of those things which happen for the most part lie hidden in God's purpose.
“This is a hugely important pastoral point. Consequently, the believer must realize that events will happen in this life that are simultaneously seemingly senseless and fortuitous and yet also part of God's perfect plan. Thus, in our hearts, we must be fixed on the truth that nothing happens that the Lord has not decreed and foreseen.” Ligon Duncan. [11]
Chapter 17:
In Chapter 17 Calvin now begins a sustained application of this truth. He says that when we are considering God's providence: Three things are to be noted.
1- God's providence must be considered with regard to the future as well as the past.
2- That in overruling all things, sometimes God works through means, or an intermediary, sometimes without an intermediary, sometimes contrary to every intermediary, as He decides.
3- The design of God is to reveal his concern for the whole human race, but especially his vigilance in ruling the Church, which he favours to watch more closely. (Special providence as described by the WCF).
He continues, “Now this, also, ought to be added, that although either fatherly favour or severity of judgment often shine forth in the whole course of providence, nevertheless sometimes the causes of the events are hidden."
Although the causes may be hidden from us, we rest in the reality that God has foreordained everything that comes to pass.
We must understand that God always has a purpose too. Adversity may be for reproof, for chastisement, for bringing a Christian to a deeper reliance of and trust in God, for the prevention of sin, for humility or to punish the wicked for example. We should therefore always hold back on any rash judgements of situations and just know that God is always good and wise.
Consequently, no mature believer will weigh the matter of God's providence without assuming a posture of reverence, awe and humility (1.17.2).[12] This is important, Calvin says, because, "it happens that today so many dogs assail this doctrine with their venomous bitings, or at least with barking: for they wish nothing to be lawful for God beyond what their own reason prescribes for themselves."
In this section, Calvin mentions individuals who draw unwarranted inferences from the providence of God. One false inference is that means do not matter. One might say, "if God has unchangeably set the time of my death, then what does it matter if I eat well, exercise, and see the doctor?" Calvin replies that the decree of God does not lay a hindrance before our decision making. On the contrary, "God's providence does not always meet us in its naked form, but God in a sense clothes it with the means employed" (1.17.4). [13]
Providence does not cancel out human responsibility. God uses means. Our duty is to obey God as He has revealed His will in Scripture.
Calvin also teaches that providence does not cancel out the need for human prudence or the necessity for us to plan for the future. As long as we keep everything consistent with God’s revealed will in His Word.
Another false inference that some draw from the doctrine of providence is that there is no difference between virtue and vice. Again, one might say, "if all things happen because of God's will, then how can one blame an adulterer for his adultery or a murderer for her murder? Aren't they just doing God's will?" Calvin answers, "I deny that they are serving God's will ... [rather] we must in our deeds search out God's will which he declares through his Word" (1.17.5). [14]
To help us guard against errors in thinking about providence Calvin gives us four points to meditate on:
1- God has ordered all events;
2- God orders all things for the well-being of His people;
3- God uses all agents, good and evil;
4- God exercises special care for His people. [15]
Properly understood, providence is the stay and support of the believer (1.17.6). God takes particular and "special care" not only of all humanity but also of the church. For Christians, God's "singular providence" means that God "will not suffer anything to happen but what may turn out to [our] good and salvation." [16]
“Thus for the good and safety of his people, he overrules all the creatures, even the devil himself, who we see does not attempt anything against Job without his permission and command. This knowledge is necessarily followed by gratitude in prosperity, patience in adversity and incredible security for the time to come.” (1.17.7)
As far as causes go, Calvin mentions that God is the primary cause, but man and the devil are secondary causes. By this distinction he frees God from accusations of being the author of sin.
Application:
Calvin develops three practical observations concerning the doctrine of providence:
1- The Doctrine of Providence helps us to face adversity properly. When we realize that the difficulties and setbacks we experience do not come ultimately from the hand of man but from the hand of God, we are able to control the "anger and impatience" that tempt us in those situations (1.17.8). In times of adversity we will look to God and wait patiently for His good and perfect purposes to be fulfilled. We therefore should not grumble and complain at the circumstances of our lives but rather trust and obey our sovereign God who is in full control of everything.
2- The Doctrine of Providence teaches us how to use means. As we face an uncertain future, we "entrust and submit" ourselves "to God's wisdom," and entrust the outcome to God's hand.
3- The Doctrine of Providence is the stay and support of the believer. Danger, disease, and death face every person every moment of the day. Neither unbeliever nor believer is exempt from the "innumerable evils that beset human life" (1.17.10). Should the believer respond to these uncertainties with anxiety, fear, and care, Calvin asks? No! "His solace, I say, is to know that his Heavenly Father so holds all things in his power, so rules by his authority and will, so governs by his wisdom, that nothing can befall except he determine it" (1.17.11). [17]
Chapter 18:
One misconception many have about providence is that evil happens by the "bare permission" but not by the will of God. This, Calvin says, is to represent God as seated "in a watchtower awaiting chance events, and his judgments dependent upon human will" (1.18.1). God is no such spectator, Calvin argues. God decrees and commands the execution of all things - the calamities that befell Job; the judgments of Israel and Judah by Assyria and Babylon; and crucifixion of Christ. God's will is the "cause" even of the "hardening" of sinners (1.18.2).
Calvin is very careful to make the point that we ought not to attribute to God the motives of others in the exercise of the will.
“It can happen that the same man wills with a bad will what God wills with a good will… For through the bad wills of evil men God fulfils what he righteously wills” (1.18.3). In others words, God, satan, people may will the same thing, but they will it differently, with different objectives in mind. We need to constantly keep this in mind and not to attribute to God the will of satan or people and so limit it.
In fact even in the same acts as man’s evil deed shows itself, so God’s justice shines forth” (1.18.4). Calvin also makes the powerful point “And surely in Judas’ betrayal it will be no more right, because God himself both willed that his Son be delivered up and delivered him up to death, to ascribe the guilt of the crime to God than to transfer the credit for redemption to Judas” (1.18.4)
In summary, Calvin says, "since God's will is said to be the cause of all things, I have made his providence the determinative principle for all human plans and works, not only in order to display its force in the elect, who are ruled by the Holy Spirit, but also to compel the reprobate to obedience" (1.18.2).
Calvin closes the chapter with the reminder that God has revealed these difficult matters to us because he has judged them "useful for men to know." Our proper response, therefore, is not to "scoff" but to "embrace with humble teachableness ... whatever is taught in Sacred Scripture." [18]
Conclusion:
I personally think that the Doctrine of Providence and a deep understanding of it is such a comfort to Christians that it ought to be a staple of discipling all new believers.
Once comprehended it acts as a soothing balm of comfort during all trials and afflictions, and it helps the believer to maintain a calmness of spirit during such times that they develop and convey a deep trust in God and are a strong magnet and witness to unbelievers, both of which brings much glory to God.
The opposite of this is naturally equally true. For Calvin, the biblical doctrine of providence is not a matter for idle speculation. On the contrary, "ignorance of providence is the ultimate of all miseries; the highest blessedness lies in the knowledge of it" (1.17.11).
So, in conclusion then, by the proper consideration of providence we should be delivered from much care and worry. We know that God is carefully directing absolutely every single aspect of our lives.
This is amazingly burden-lifting and should:
1- Motivate us to investigate God’s revealed will in Scripture and obey it.
2- Produce in us a sense of calmness and a deeper reliance upon and trust in God.
3- Give us a sense of security under God’s protection, freeing us from superstition.
If God knew us before we were born; if He knows every hair on our heads; if not one bird falls from the sky without His say so; if He works all things, good and bad for our ultimate good; then should we not simply focus our energy and attention toward obeying our loving God as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word?
Should we not calmly and confidently move through each and every crisis in our lives, looking to God, trusting Him and patiently, joyfully looking for how He is going to bring glory to Himself by rescuing us from those situations?
(Chapter 5 of the Westminster Confession of Faith on Providence is worth reading– below, and in times of trial a quick read of a great little booklet on providence called “Behind a Frowning Providence,” by John Murray brings a sure and immediate relief of burdens. This may currently be out of print but email [email protected] for a copy if interested).
Westminster Confession of Faith on Providence
WCF 5:1 God the great Creator of all things doth uphold,(1) direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things,(2) from the greatest even to the least,(3) by His most wise and holy providence,(4) according to His infallible foreknowledge,(5) and the free and immutable counsel of His own will,(6) to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.(7)
(1) Heb. 1:3.
(2) Dan. 4:34,35; Ps. 135:6; Acts 17:25,26,28; Job 38,39,40,41.
(3) Matt. 10:29,30,31.
(4) Prov. 15:3; Ps. 104:24; Ps. 145:17.
(5) Acts 15:8; Ps. 94:8,9,10,11.
(6) Eph. 1:11; Ps. 33:10,11.
(7) Isa. 63:14; Eph. 3:10; Rom. 9:17; Gen. 45:7, Ps. 145:7.
WCF 5.2 Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably, and infallibly;(1) yet, by the same providence, He ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.(2)
(1) Acts 2:23.
(2) Gen. 8:22; Jer. 31:35; Exod. 21:13; Deut. 19:5; 1 Kings 22:28,34; Isa. 10:6,7.
WCF 5.3 God, in His ordinary providence, maketh use of means,(1) yet is free to work without,(2) above,(3) and against them,(4) at His pleasure.
(1) Acts 27:31,44; Isa. 55:10,11; Hos. 2:21,22.
(2) Hos. 1:7; Matt. 4:4; Job 34:10.
(3) Rom. 4:19,20,21.
(4) 2 Kings 6:6; Dan. 3:27.
WCF 5.4 The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence, that it extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men,(1) and that not by a bare permission,(2) but such as hath joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding,(3) and otherwise ordering and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to His own holy ends;(4) 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 approver of sin.(5)
(1) Rom. 11:32,33,34; 2 Sam. 24:1; 1 Chron. 21:1; 1 Kings 22:22,23; 1 Chron. 10:4,13,14; 2 Sam. 16:10; Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27,28.
(2) Acts 14:16.
(3) Ps. 76:10; 2 Kings 19:28.
(4) Gen. 1:20; Isa. 10:6,7,12.
(5) James 1:13,14,17; 1 John 2:16; Ps. 50:21.
WCF 5.5 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;(1) 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.(2)
(1) 2 Chron. 32:25,26,31; 2 Sam. 24:1.
(2) 2 Cor. 12:7,8,9; Ps. 73; Ps. 77:1,10,12; Mark 14:66-72; John 21:15,16,17.
WCF 5.6 As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God, as a righteous judge, for former sins, doth blind and harden,(1) from them He not only withholdeth His grace, whereby they might have been enlightened in their understandings, and wrought upon in their hearts;(2) but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had,(3) and exposeth them to such objects as their corruption makes occasions of sin;(4) and, withal, gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan,(5) whereby it comes to pass that they harden themselves, even under those means which God useth for the softening of others.(6)
(1) Rom. 1:24,26,28; Rom. 11:7,8.
(2) Deut. 29:4.
(3) Matt. 13:12; Matt. 25:29.
(4) Deut. 2:30; 2 Kings 8:12,13.
(5) Ps. 81:11,12; 2 Thess. 2:10,11.
(6) Exod. 7:3; Exod. 8:15,32; 2 Cor. 2:15,16; Isa. 8:14; 1 Pet. 2:7,8; Isa. 6:9,10; Acts 28:26,27. WCF 5.7 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.(1)
(1) 1 Tim. 4:10; Amos 9:8,9; Rom. 8:28; Isa. 43:3,4,5,14.
[1] Joseph A. Pipa Jr, “Creation and Providence” 135
[2] Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-31-1151-1153.php>
[3] Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-32-1154-1157.php> 1.15.4 - 1.15.7
[4] Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-32-1154-1157.php> 1.15.4 - 1.15.7
[5] Pipa, 138
[6] Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-33-1158-1163.php>
Blog 34: 1.16.4 - 1.16.8 Posted by Ligon Duncan
[7] Pipa, 138
[8] Pipa, 138
[9] Ligon Duncan, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-34-1164-1168.php>
[10] Pipa, 141
[11] Ligon Duncan, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-34-1164-1168.php>
[12] Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-35-1169-1172.php>
[13] Guy Waters, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-36-1173-1177.php>
[14] Guy Waters, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-36-1173-1177.php>
[15] It is acknowledged that some thoughts, such as this 4 point list, and quotes have been used either directly from or gleaned generally, after reading either Calvin, Pipa and also from the Reformation21 website.
[16] Guy Waters, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-36-1173-1177.php>
[17] Guy Waters, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-36-1173-1177.php>
[18] Guy Waters, Pasted from <http://www.reformation21.org/calvin/2009/02/blog-38-11712-1184.php>