Sunday, July 3, 2011

OF GOD, AGAINST MOLINISM: FIRST CAUSE DICATES ALL SECOND CAUSES


 Genesis 1:1:  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And so following the account of the creation of all there is extant.

John 1:1-3:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The “all things” here is immediately apparent.


Colossians 1:16-17:  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

The context shows this to be Christ, again the “all things” is immediately apparent to those who are regenerate, and even the claim can be recognized, if not accepted, by those profane who believe not the Scriptures. Also, the fact of this is that those things created are “held together;” they cohere, by the will of God in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Triune God.

Colossians 2:3:  in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Again, the context shows this is our Lord Jesus Christ, and these are but some of the “invisible things” created by and for Him. Logic and reason, therefore, have their foundation and basis in God, and do not exist outside of Him; they are a part of His creation, as He precedes all things, being the First Cause, that is, the Creator, of “all things, visible and invisible, in heaven and on earth.”

Hebrews 1:3:  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

The radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature cannot be understood to be a limited exhibition or definition of such, especially since He upholds “all things” (rendered universe in the ESV, but more properly, “all”) by the word of His power, the “all” being that which He created, the “upholding” properly the “moving along.”

Ephesians 1:3-4:  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

2 Timothy 1:9:  who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

Of God this is said, and “before the ages began” is understood as from all eternity, which God, being infinite, did not exist in, but apart from, having created it. This is also the meaning of “before the foundation of the world” in the previous verse – before the world, and time, and man began, reason, logic, good and evil, were fixed in the mind of God, as to who He is, and what they should be, once He created man, in the image of Himself, who failed the test of simple obedience, knowing nothing of these things (refer again to the Genesis account, where Adam was “innocent” without the knowledge of “good and evil” until he purposely sought the devil’s advice to be as God, in complete innocence, yet of the ability to make choices, when wrong choice is shown to be passed onto His progeny throughout history, God showing the perfect man could not save himself without the grace, new birth, and indwelling of God’s own Spirit Himself in that gracious rebirth).

Titus 1:2:  in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.

Again, of God, the promise was made of eternal life to those whom He willed to be “in Christ Jesus,” and the words here “before the ages began” specifically use the word for ages and time together, to show they did not exist before they were created by God.

Soli Deo Gloria - Bill Hier

1 comment:

  1. This would also be against Finneyism, Open Theism, and a host of other dogmas that limit God from being who He presents Himself to be unerringly in the Scriptures.

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