Theology: C - God and His World Flashcards
What is God?
WSC 4 - “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.”
What is the error of Sabellianism?
- Also known as Modalistic Monarchianism.
- Sabellianism teaches that the three persons of the Trinity are modes in which one God manifests himself at different times. In other words, God was at one time the Father, then later he was the Son, then later he was the Spirit.
Briefly explain and defend (including Scripture proofs) the doctrine of the Trinity.
- There is only one God, the living and true God.
Deut 6:4 - “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” - There are three persons in the Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three are one God the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
Matt. 28:19 - “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” - These three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.
2 Corinth 13:14 - “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
What are the decrees of God?
WSC 7 - “The decrees of God are, his eternal purpose, according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he has foreordained whatever comes to pass.”
What is the difference between infralapsarian and supralapsarian view of God’s decrees?
Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism are about the logical order of God’s predestination. Did God elect before or after decreeing the fall?
- Supra - elect BEFORE decreeing the fall. Decree of election is BEFORE decree of creation.
- God’s decree to save His elect and to condemn the reprobate for His own glory
- decree to create man and allow him to fall in to sin (so man is fallible)
- then decree to send Christ to redeem the elect
- and decree for the Spirit to perfect their salvation.
- Infra - elect AFTER decreeing the fall. Decree of election is AFTER decree of creation.
- God’s decree to create man and to allow him to fall into sin (thus, man is fallen.)
- decree to elect some men to salvation and to pass over the reprobate for condemnation
- decree to send Christ for the elect
- decree for the Spirit to perfect their salvation.
Cautions
- Both views are reformed view. Both of them agree God’s sovereignty and particular redemption.
- The most important thing is that God’s decree is one and eternal.
- it is not comprehensible for man.
What is the Amyraldian view of God’s decrees?
- A system of Reformed theology based on the premise that God wills all to be saved if they believe.
- Moise Amyraut of the Saumer Academy- Unlimited Atonement or 4 point Calvinist
Briefly discuss the length of the days of creation.
- First the use of the word “yom” day in the Hebrew. The default meaning is either daylight period or a twenty-four hour day. Of the 2304 appearances; the great majority either daylight or normal 24 hour day.
- Second The non-literal uses of the Hebrew word “yom” are always demanded by the context and grammar.
- Third the use of “day” with the ordinal number demands a sequential reading. An ordinal number is a number that reflects order “First, second, third, etc.” Though the number “one” in verse 5 is not an ordinal (In a list, the cardinal number “one” is at times used for “first” cf. 2:11.), the numbers “second” through “seventh” are. When an ordinal number is used with “yom” not one example of non-sequence can be found. In the Pentateuch, Moses uses ordinal numbers with the word “yom” 119 times. Each usage indicates a literal day
- Fourth The Jews marked days from evening to evening (Lev. 23:32). Moses uses the phrase to show the relationship between the days. It is a hinge. The text presents literal days: evening closing the daylight; morning closing the darkness (Exodus 10:13). 6 24-hour day work week modeled after creation (Exodus 34:21 - “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest.”
- This is the clear, straight forward reading of Gen. 1:1-2:3; nothing in the grammar or vocabulary to support any other interpretation.
Evaluate biblically the theory of evolution.
Naturalistic Evolution - believes everything, including matter and man developed by natural processes and are purely a result of natural forces functioning over a period of time. Naturalistic evolution is godless. It denies God’s work of creation and providence. This system of belief denies the creation of the world, by God, out of nothing and in the space of six days.
WSC 9 - “The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good.”
Theistic Evolution —believes that God as the worker/mover behind the process set the evolutionary process in motion. This system, though acknowledging God as creator, gives him little more credit than first cause. This theory views the creation account as mythical and denies God the sovereign capacity to create as he claims in Genesis 1-2. Essentially a form of Deism.
WCF 5.1 - “God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible fore-knowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.”
What is a miracle? Do miracles occur today? Explain.
A miracle is when God works outside the normal means of his providence, often called extraordinary providence. Miracles are demonstrations of God’s power and they manifest that He is the Lord of providence.
- God uses means, such as rain to water the earth, to accomplish his providence ordinarily.
- However, God is not restricted to “ordinary providence” but is free to exercise his purposes without, above, or against means.
1. Without - Man does not live by bread alone but every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God
2. Above - giving the aged Sarah a child despite the deadness of her womb
3. Against - Causing an axe head to float.
God is still capable of working miracles today, but now that special revelation has ceased, He no longer grants miracle-working power to specific human beings.
Do miracles occur today?
If we take miracle to mean that God working without second causes for the sake of the affirmation of revelation, like Warfield does, then I would not affirm that miracles occur today due to the closed nature of the canon. In saying this I would also add that I would at the same time affirm what Warfield called “extra-ordinary” acts of providence. In other words, I do think God still answers prayer in quite extraordinary ways (for example prayers for healing).
Define the doctrine of concurrence; do you agree or disagree?
- Berkhof, defines it as “the cooperation of the divine power with all subordinate powers, according to the pre-established laws of their operation, causing them to act and to act precisely as they do.”
- I agree with the doctrine. It is a great mystery but one we must affirm if we are to uphold the absolute sovereignty of God.
Proverbs 21:1 - “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”
Is God responsible for sin? Did he decree it? Did he permit it?
NO.
WCF 3.1 - “God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.”
James 1:13 - Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he Himself tempted no one.”
1 John 1:5 - “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.”
The Scripture justifies God and maintains that in no case can God be considered the author of sin. He is always presented as holy and righteous, far from sin and godlessness. The Bible always blames the sin upon the creature and not upon God. Yet there is the fact that God has created the world so that sin was possible.
YES.
We must affirm that God has decreed all things, including sin, and yet he is not the agent in the act of sin. The decree itself is a positive act of God, but the execution of the decree is by permission. Acts 2:23 affirms that the crucifixion took place by the hand of wicked, lawless men. In other words, though it was foreordained by God, sinful men were responsible for the sin itself. Even when we recognize that this is the case, we are still left with the question of why God has ordained that sin should take place in the first place. Ultimately, we have no answer to this question. All that we can say is that it is for the glory of God, but that still does not answer why this is so…
Who is the ultimate cause of all things?
God is!
Eph. 1:11 - “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will…”
WCF 3.1 - “God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass…”
What is theodicy?
- Theodicy is a philosophical attempt to vindicate the justice and goodness of God, especially in view of the fact of evil, which is normally felt, or judged to constitute a challenge to such attributes of God.
- Theodicy tries to explain the goodness of God in the face of evil, but not necessarily answer WHY it happens.
If God is good and all-powerful, explain AIDS, deformed babies, natural disasters.
- The affirmation that God is good and all-powerful does not deny the reality that we live in a fallen world.
- Though God created the world good (in fact very good) man in his rebellion against God brought sin into the world and with it sickness, destruction and death.
- However, God’s goodness is still seen in his common grace as he holds his creation together and in his sovereign acts of
providence. We see God’s goodness in his willingness to redeem us from sin and in his all-powerful sovereignty in his even using that which is otherwise evil to work good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
Rev. 21 - “promise to wipe away every tear…”
