HOLY SPIRIT

1
THE PROBLEM OF PAIN
The Scream, E. Munch, http//www.ibiblio.org/wm/pa
int/auth/munch/
2
THE COVENANT GOD-According to Scripture
3
THE COVENANT GOD
GOD
Creation
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THE COVENANT GOD

• Transcendent
• Distant
• Creator-creature Distinction
• Man is image of GOD
• Gods knowledge is archtypal, immediate, and
  intuitive

• Personal
• Immanent
• Creator-creature Relationship
• Man is IMAGE of God
• Our knowledge is ectypal, mediate, and discursive

5
THE COVENANT GODand Non-Christian Thought
Either Divinize Man
The Inevitability Of One Circle Thinking
Or Humanize God
What are the implications for the Problem of
Pain???
6
THE WORKS OF GOD

• The Decrees of God
• Creation
• Providence
• Miracles

7
THE WORKS OF GOD
Opera Ad Extra- God in relation
to creation
Opera Ad Intra- God in himself
Ad Extra
Emanent Execution of Decrees
Works of God
Ad Intra
Immanent Decree
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THE DECREES OF GOD

• Divine/Human responsibility WCF 3.1 God from
  all eternity did, by the most wise and holy
  counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably
  ordain what- soever comes to pass yet so, as
  thereby

neither is God the author of sin, nor is
violence offered to the will of the creatures,
nor is the liberty or contingency of second
causes taken away, but rather established.
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THE DECREES OF GOD

• Definition The decrees of God are his eternal
  purpose, according to the counsel of his will,
  whereby for his own glory he hath foreordained
  whatsoever comes to pass. S.C. Q. 7

• The Final Cause of all is the Glory of God,
  Antecedent Will
• The means towards those ends are the Consequent
  Will of God
• The Decree is the determination to employ those
  ends

10
BIBLICAL DATA DECREE OF GOD

• Psalm 13916, All the days ordained for me were
  written in your book before one of them came to
  be
• Psalm 3311, the plans of the Lord stand firm
  forever
• Isaiah 1424, the Lord Almighty has sworn,
  Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as
  I have purposed, so it will stand
• Ephesians 15,11 he predestined us . . . In
  accordance with his pleasure and will . . . .
  having been predestined according to the plan of
  him who works out everything in conformity with
  the purpose of his will

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THE DECREES OF GOD

• Include even the minute details, Matthew
  1029,30, not one of them sparrows will fall .
  . . apart from the will of your Father
• Include the wicked acts of men
• Luke 2222, the Son of Man will go as it has
  been decreed
• Acts 223, this man was handed to you by Gods
  set purpose and foreknowledge
• Acts 427-28, They did what your power and will
  had decided beforehand should happen
• Are Immutable, Isaiah 1424,27, I have purposed,
  so it will stand (Cf. 469-10)

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INDETERMINISM
100
Human Freedom
13
DETERMINISM
100
The sovereignty of God
14
COVENANTAL CONSTRUCT
100
Human Freedom
200 Solution
The sovereignty of God
100
15
WORKS OF GODPROVIDENCE

• Gods works of providence are, his most holy,
  wise, and powerful preserving and governing all
  his creatures, and all their actions. S.C. Q 11

16
PROVIDENCE

• Creation anticipates Providence
• All Christians profess belief in providence
  Calvinists extend it to every detail of life
• Providence means that God enters into his
  creation and upholds it- preservation and
  government
• Providence is universal and all-inclusive
• Ordinary Providence, Jonah 13, the boat
• Extraordinary Providence, Jonah 14, great wind
• Supernatural Providence, Jonah 117, the fish

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MYSTERY OF PROVIDENCE

• Agency and Responsibility (second causes) are
  established by Gods providence
• Biblical Examples
• Genesis 5020, You intended to harm me, but God
  intended it for good
• Isaiah 105ff, Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of
  my anger . . . I send him against a godless
  nation . . . But this is not what he intends,
  this is not what he has in mind
• Acts 2722-25, keep up your courage, because not
  one of you will be lost . . . it will happen just
  as he (God) told me

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MYSTERY OF PROVIDENCE

• The Moral (Revealed) Will of God- tells us what
  pleases God
• The Decretive (Secret) Will of God- this is what
  God has decreed to come to pass
• Choices ordained by God are nonetheless real
  choices- herein lies the paradox! (Compatibilism)
• Necessity versus Compulsion, ICR, 2.3.5,
  Therefore if the fact that he God must do good
  does not hinder Gods free will in doing good if
  the devil, who can do only evil, yet sins with
  his will- who shall say that man therefore sins
  less willingly because he is subject to the
  necessity of sinning?

19
PROBLEM OF EVIL

• It is not easy to find adequate terms to
  describe Gods ordination of evil. Our language
  must not compromise either Gods full sovereignty
  or his holiness and goodness. John Frame, The
  Doctrine of God, 179
• The transcendence of God plays a significant
  role in biblical responses to the problem of
  evil. Because God is who he is, the covenant
  Lord, he is not required to defend himself
  against charges of injustice. DoG, 180

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PROBLEM OF EVIL

• It is significant that the potter-clay image
  appears in the one place in Scripture where the
  problem of evil is explicitly addressed. The
  answer to the problem of evil turns entirely on
  Gods sovereignty. It is as far as could be
  imagined from a free will defense. It brings to
  our attention the fact that his prerogatives are
  far greater than ours, as does the
  author-character model. DoG, 181

21
PROBLEM OF EVIL

• Romans 919-21 You will say to me then, Why
  does he still find fault? For who can resist his
  will? 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back
  to God? Will what is molded say to its molder,
  Why have you made me like this? 21 Has the
  potter no right over the clay, to make out of the
  same lump one vessel for honored use and another
  for dishonorable use?

22
THE PROBLEM OF PAIN
The Scream, E. Munch, http//www.ibiblio.org/wm/pa
int/auth/munch/