26+Divine+Decrees+and+Providence+II
· Theology Proper ·
Lecture Twenty Six: Divine Decrees and Providence II
TH330 Systematic Theology I · Moody Bible Institute · Dr. Richard M. Weber
I. The Problem of Evil
He causes evil things to come to pass through the willing acts of His creatures.
A. Some Examples of the Problem
1. The Example of Joseph and His Brothers
There is dual intentionality. Man means things to evil, but God has a good intention.
“God sent me before you to preserve life.” (Gen 45:5)
“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive…” (Gen 50:20)
2. The Example of Pharaoh
| Of God: “I will harden his heart.” (Ex 4:21) “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.” (Ex 7:3) “The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.” (Ex 9:12) “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” (Ex 10:20; also in 10:27 and 11:10) “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.” (Ex 14:4) “The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Ex 14:8) |
| Of Pharaoh: “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.” (Ex 8:15) “But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.” (Ex 8:32) “When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts.” (Ex 9:34) |
The idea of concurrence. This is what happens in the exodus event, rather all that happens up to the exodus event.
“I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” (Rom 9:17; cf. Ex 9:16)
3. The Example of David
“Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ‘Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.’” (2 Sam 24:1)
“Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” (1 Chr 21:1)
“David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done…” (2 Sam 24:10)
“God, in order to bring about his purposes, worked through Satan to incite David to sin, but Scripture regards David as being responsible for that sin.” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 324)
4. The Example of Job
Actually gives Satan permission to harm his family. To cause evil.
Ultimately he sees God’s hand in the process.
“The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised..” (Job 1:21)
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“In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.” (Job 1:22)
5. The Example of the Babylonians
“‘I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations.” (Jer 25:9)
“‘But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,’ declares the Lord…” (Jer 25:12)
6. The Example of the Crucifixion
“Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” (Acts 4:27-28)
“[Jesus] was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” (Acts 2:23)
7. General Examples and Problem Passages
“And if the prophet is enticed to utter a prophecy, I the Lord have enticed that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.” (Ezek 14:9)
“When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?” (Amos 3:6)
“I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster…” (Isa 45:7)
“Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?” (Lam 3:38)
“For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” (2 Thess 2:11-12)
“… They stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were destined for.” (1 Pet 2:8)
B. Some Principles to Understand the Problem
1. God Uses All Things To Fulfill His Purposes
“God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28)
“You means evil against me; but God meant it for good.” (Gen 50:20)
“The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.” (Ps 16:4)
2. God Never Does Evil, Nor is God Ever To Be Blamed For Evil
“The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him.” (Luke 22:22)
“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.” (James 1:13-14)
“Thieves and murderers and other evildoers are the instruments of divine providence, and the Lord himself uses these to carry out the judgments that he has determined with himself. Yet I deny that they can derive from this any excuse for their evil deeds. Why? Will they either involve God in the same iniquity with themselves, or will they cloak their own depravity with his justice? They can do neither.” (John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.16.5)
3. God Rightly Blames and Judges Moral Creatures for the Evil They Do
God places these moral creature rightly for judgment.
“One of you will say to me: ‘Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?’ But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? ‘Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”’” (Rom 9:19-20; quotes from Isaiah 29:16; 45:9)
II. Divine Decrees
“The decrees of God are the eternal plans of God whereby, before the creation of the world, he determined to bring about everything that happens.” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 332)
“…All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Ps 139:16)
“They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” (Acts 4:28)
“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” (Eph 1:4)
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10)
“Man will then be spoken of as having this sort of free decision, not because he has free choice equally of good and evil, but because he acts wickedly by will, not by compulsion.” (John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.2.7-8)