God is Independent

God is independent from an initial cause. It is faulty logical to say, “All things are created; God is a thing; Therefore, God is created.” He is self-existent. There was a time when the universe was not, but there was never a time when God was not. He is the only “necessary cause” and everything else is an “unnecessary effect.”

God is independent from anything and everything in his created world. He is never dependent. He needs nothing from his creation. He was not, is not, never ever can be less fulfilled or more fulfilled. This is the doctrine of “God’s Impassibility.” He is not affected, changed or altered by anything currently existing. He is never the effect of someone else’s cause. In the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, he is “without passions.” Yes, he is immanent, but he is also transcendent. This is opposed to “baptized paganism” so prevalent in today’s circles – making God like man. (Paul Helm)

More on the “Impassability of God.” It describes how God does not experience passion, emotion, suffering, feeling, pain, or pleasure from his creation. He has no mood swings. He cannot be affected, for he is the cause of all things. He is not the deity of the pagan. (Look at WCF … God is “without body, parts, passions …”Δ

God is independent from an other supposed gods. The definition of a God is a being who is sovereign, all-controlling, and infinite over all others. Therefore, there cannot be two infinite beings over one another.

God is transcendent. The technical theological word is asceity. A more common theological word is holiness – as in the sense of “otherness.” The Hebrew word is ko’desh, means set apart, sacred, apartness, or consecrated.

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

Exodus 15:11     Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you– majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?  (This is the first song in the Bible.)

Psalms 90:2     Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Psalm 102:25-27     In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.  They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.  But you remain the same, and your years will never end.

Isaiah 6:3     And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Acts 17:24-25     The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.

Revelation 4:8     Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

Revelation 4:11     You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.

Revelation 15:4     Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”  (This is the last song in the Bible.)

Man is dependent and can never be independent.

God is Intentional

Introductory thoughts and questions

Does God plan anything, some things, or all things?” Wise men plan; other men gamble. Wise architects plan. Wise mountain climbers plan. Wise generals plan. So, does God plan … anything … some things … or all things?

• Has God planned the creation of the world?
• Has God planned the fall and damnation of the world?
• Has God planned the salvation of the world?
• Has God planned the rise and fall of nations?
• Has God planned the rise and fall of individual dictators?
• Has God planned the individual salvation of individual men?
• Has God planned the journeys of tiny individual sperm cells as they travel through the Fallopian tubes?
• Has God planned the vocations of men?
• Has God planned the days of a man’s life?
• Has God planned the hairs on a man’s head?
• Has God planned what time you awoke this morning?
• Has God planned the route you took to church this morning?
• Has God planned where you parked this morning?
• Has God planned which particular seat you sat in this morning?
• Has God planned every single gust of wind and where every leaf which has blown?
• Has God planned the thought that is going on in your head right now?
• I want all of you … right now … to lift up either your right or left hand … make a choice … did God plan that as well?

He plans eternally.

Isaiah 46:9-11     … I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.  I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.  From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.  What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.

Ephesians 1:3-6     Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Ephesians 3:10-11     His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

2 Timothy 1:9      Who has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

In different sections of God’s Word, the plan of God is called by various titles: Decrees, Foreordination, Foreknowledge, Predestination, Election, Purpose, Choice, Will

Listen to the Westminster Shorter Catechism: 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.

He plans according to his own desire.

God did not seek help in making a decision.

God did not seek future information to aid him in making a decision.

God … in eternity past … before anything had been done or decided … he decided that which would be done and decided.

Ephesians 1:11     In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

2 Timothy 1:9      [God] … who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done [including placing faith and trust in Jesus Christ] – but because of his own purpose and grace.  This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

Isaiah 46:9-11     … I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.  I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.  From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.  What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.

Listen to the Westminster Confession of Faith, “Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath He not decreed any thing because He foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions.  (3:2)

He plans anything and everything.

Proverbs 16:4     The LORD works out everything for his own ends– even the wicked for a day of disaster.

Romans 8:28-29  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose ….

Ephesians 1:11     In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will

He plans the disastrous and harmful.

Exodus 4:10-12     But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

Lamentations 3:37-38     Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Isaiah 37:26-27     Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass, that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone.  Their people, drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field, like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it grows up.

1 Peter 4:19     Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

He plans the develish.

Genesis 45:7     But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Genesis 50:20     You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Job 23:13-14    But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?  He does whatever he pleases. He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store.

Job 42:2  I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.  [Speaking of that done to him by through Satan]

Exodus 4:21     And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.     [God predicts what God will do.]

Matthew 4:1     Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.

Luke 22:22    The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him.”

Acts 2:23    This man 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 4:27-28     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.

Romans 9:17     For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

He plans the human decision.

Judges 14:2-4     When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”  His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.”  (His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)

Job 14:5     Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

Psalm 33:10-11     The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.

Psalm 139:16     … All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Proverbs 19:21     Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.

Proverbs 20:24     A man’s steps are directed by the LORD.   How then can anyone understand his own way?

Lamentations 3:37-38     Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Isaiah 46:9-11     … I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.  I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.  From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.  What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.

Acts 13:48     When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

Acts 17:26     From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

Ephesians 1:3-6     Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

2 Timothy 1:9      [God] … who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done [including placing faith and trust in Jesus Christ] – but because of his own purpose and grace.  This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

2 Thessalonians 2:13     But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.

1 Peter 2:8      “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”  They stumble because they disobey the message– which is also what they were destined for.

Remember the testimony of Joseph before his brothers

Remember the story of Pharaoh

Remember the story of Xerxes choosing Esther

Remember the story of Judas and the Jews betraying and crucifying Jesus Christ

God is Immutable

He is immutable in his being.

God is not in transition. He is never changing. He exists now as he has always existed.

Malachi 3:6     I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

James 1:17     Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

When the signers of the Constitution wrote the document, they realized that there might have to be a time when it could be changed, altered or adjusted.  So they designed a means whereby it could be amended.  It would not be easy to do so, but it was possible.  However, with God, there is no “amendment policy”, for His plan never needs change.

Ask yourself this question, “What possibly could happen that would make God’s plan change?”

• He cannot learn more information.
• He cannot lose control or be overpowered.
• He cannot be surprised.
• He cannot be instructed and thus gain wisdom and desire a better plan.
• He cannot change goals or ends.
• He is not fickle or schizophrenic.
• He cannot change.
• No better plan could ever have been devised than that which first originated with God.

Numbers 23:19     God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act?  Does he promise and not fulfill?

1 Samuel 15:29     He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.”

Psalm 33:10-11     The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.  But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.

Proverbs 16:33     The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

Isaiah 14:24     The LORD Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.

Malachi 3:6     I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Matthew 10:29     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.

Hebrews 6:16-17     Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument.  Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.

James 1:17     Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father … who does not change like shifting shadows.

He is immutable in his proclamation.

God never lies. All that he promises comes to fruition.

Numbers 23:19     God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act?  Does he promise and not fulfill?

He is immutable in his knowledge.

He is not learning. God sees all and knows all.  (Omniscience)

Isaiah 40:13-14     Who has understood the mind of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor?  Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?

Psalms 147:5     Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

Hebrews 4:13     Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Jeremiah 16:17     My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.

Proverbs 15:11     Death and Destruction lie open before the LORD—how much more the hearts of men!

Jeremiah 17:9-10     The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”

Luke 16:15     He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.

Psalm 139:1-7     For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.  You hem me in– behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.  Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

God is Infinite

He is not limited by time.

He is not subject to time. He is above time. He is eternal and always living in the present.

Exodus 3:14     God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”

He is not limited by space.

He is omnipresent and everywhere present.

Psalms 139:7     Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?

He is not limited in power.

God is not hindered by anything or anyone. He is omnipotent and sovereign. He has complete control over the forces of nature.  (E.g. Universe, planets, hurricanes, floods, rain) He has complete control over the powers of darkness. He has complete control over every facet of man.

This is also the doctrine of God’s providence.

Psalm 115:3     Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.

Psalm 135:6     The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.

In reality, no event is really small.

There have been numerous “chance happenings” that have changed the world.

You have experienced these as well.  Dr. Livingston, the missionary, was cut short during his ministry because of a mosquito bite.

George Washington only became our first president after a bullet missed him by a couple of inches.

History tells us that geese were influential in the saving of Rome.

History tells us that Chicago was burnt to the ground because a cow kicked over a lantern.

No great men would have existed had God not planned sperm counts, sperm direction, ovulation, conception, bumps, bruises and disease.

He is not limited by science and nature.

Remember Genesis 1.

God brought the animals to Adam to be named. He summoned the animals to Noah to be boarded on the ark. He sent animals to the Israelites in the wilderness to be eaten. God spoke through a donkey to Balaam and saved Jonah by means of a large fish.

Matthew 10:29     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.

He is not limited by chance.

Proverbs 16:33     The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

He is not limited in regard to the disastrous.

Ruth 1:21     … I went out full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the LORD has witnessed against me and the Almighty has afflicted me?”

Job 1:21      … The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”

Job 2:10     He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Job 13:15     Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.

Ecclesiastes 7:13     Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what He has made crooked?”

Isaiah 45:6b-7     …  I am the LORD, and there is no other.  I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things …

Isaiah 50:2     … Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink for lack of water, And die of thirst.

Lamentations 3:37-38     Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Amos 3:6      When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?

He is not limited in regard to the devilish.

Example of Joseph and his brothers

Example of Pharaoh and Moses

Example of Judas and the Sanhedrin

Job 1:21      … The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”

Job 2:10     He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Job 13:15     Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.

Proverbs 16:4     The LORD works out everything for his own ends — even the wicked for a day of disaster.

He is not limited by humanity.

Joshua 11:19-20     Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle.  For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses.   (Oppression by Israel’s enemies)

Job 14:5     Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

Psalm 139:16     … All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Proverbs 20:24     A man’s steps are directed by the LORD.   How then can anyone understand his own way?

Proverbs 21:1     The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

Isaiah 46:9-11     … I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.  I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.  From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.  What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.

Daniel 4:25     You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.

Acts 13:48     When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

Acts 17:26     From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

1 Corinthians 3:6     I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

Ephesians 1:11     In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

Philippians 2:13     for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

2 Timothy 1:9      [God] … who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done [including placing faith and trust in Jesus Christ] – but because of his own purpose and grace.  This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time

Example of Joseph and his brothers

Genesis 45:7     But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Genesis 50:20     You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Example of Pharaoh and Moses

Example of Job

Example of the King and Esther

Example of Judas and the Sanhedrin

Example of Saul on the road to Damascus

One says … This makes man a robot  (Fatalism)                                 Look at the handout on Free Will

Listen again to the Westminster Confession of Faith, “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 to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.”

The prophet Isaiah writes of man being created for one primary person, the glory and praise of God.  God says, “I formed them for myself.”   (Is. 43:7-11)

Daniel 4:35     All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

Romans 8:29-30     For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Romans 9:14-23     What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.  For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”  Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.  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?'”  Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?  What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath– prepared for destruction?  What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—

He is not limited by self.

This is an argument used by those promoting man’s free will. God can never cease to act according to his nature. If God did so, he would cease to be independent, immutable, or infinity.

What of God’s “repenting?”

Genesis 6:6     And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Exodus 32:14     And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

1 Chronicles 21:15     And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Jonah 3:10     When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Jeremiah 26:3     It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds.

Numbers 23:19     God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and will he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good?

nacham {naw-kham’}

1) to be sorry, to suffer grief, to grieve

2) to repent, to turn

3) to regret

4) to have compassion

Anthropomorphic language – human term used to describe God

God does respond to the actions of man, but his response is planned according to the actions which he planned as well.

What does the Hebrew word “nacham” mean?

Relent, repent, to be moved to pity or compassion

Psalm 106:23     Therefore he said he would destroy them- had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

The same word is used of Jonah and his interaction with Ninevah.

The God who was violently angry, he mercifully determined to change his posture towards rebels who deserved no such favor.

This was very good news for the Israelites.

This is very good news for the worshiping rebels in this congregation this morning.

God is Inconceivable: Mystery and Humility

Proverbs 1:7     The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Jeremiah 9:23-24     This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.

Romans 11:33     Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

Psalm 19:1-4     The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.  There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun …

Deuteronomy 29:29     The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

Quote from Charles Haddon Spurgeon, delivered on Sunday morning, January 7th, 1855 at New Park Street Chapel in Southwark, spoken when he was twenty years old:  “There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity.  It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity.  Other subjects we can comprehend and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go on our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.”  But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its septh, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the … solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday and know nothing.” … But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it … Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continuing investigation of the great subject of the Deity … Would you lose your sorrows?  Would you drown your cares?  Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come forth as from a couch of rest, refreshed and invigorated.  I know nothing which can so comfort the soul; so calm the swelling billows of sorrow and grief; so speak peace to the winds of trial, as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.  It is to that subject that I invite you this morning.”

Listen to John Calvin, “God’s will is, and rightly ought to be, the cause of all things that are.  For if it has any cause, something must precede it, to which it is, as it were, bound; this is unlawful to imagine.  For God’s will is so much the highest rule of righteousness that whatever he wills, by the very fact that he wills it, must be considered righteous.  When, therefore, one asks why God has so done, we must reply: because he has willed it.  But if you proceed further to ask why he so willed, you are seeking something greater and higher than God’s will, which cannot be found.”   (Calvin, Institues, Book 3, 23.2)

Who are the arrogant ones?

Those who can’t put God’s decrees together and then deny portions of God’s Word?

Those who can’t put God’s decrees together but refuse to deny portions of God’s Word?

Scripture presents a God who planned everything, eternally, independently, immutably and exhaustively, according to all his divine attributes.

Listen to the Westminster Shorter Catechism: 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.

We like to be our own gods.

We live in an age of democracy, where men get to vote on what happens to them.

We live in an age where God is minimized while man is maximized, and this has affected our theology.

We have one of two choices this evening:

We can either continue to take God as He has revealed Himself.

We can make one up that we like better, one that meets our standards.

We are not asking if you like this, or even understand this, but rather does God’s Word teach this.

 

 

 

 

 

Δ Impassibility

Questions

Where in the Bible does God present himself as having emotions or being responsive or relating to creation?

Genesis 6:6–8     And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Psalm 38:3     There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.

Proverbs 11:1     A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.

Proverbs 11:20     Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord, but those of blameless ways are his delight.

Proverbs 12:22     Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.

Proverbs 6:16     There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:

Malachi 3:1     “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

Isaiah 14:1     For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

Hebrews 4:15     For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

1 John 4:8     Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

What does this mean that God loves us? What does it mean that God hates sin and Satan? Does this make God like Dr. Spock on Star Trek? Did the Father have any emotion at the sacrificing of his Son? Is God empathetic? Is God apathetic?

How does deism play into this conversation?

Is God’s anger, his delight, and other emotional expressions mere anthropomorphisms like his finger and hand?

What does it mean that man is created in the image and likeness of God? Would this not include some emotional/relational attributes? Do we have emotions because God has emotions? Are our emotions part of God’s communicable attributes?

Does God have passions, but they are only causal and never affected? Are they real but voluntary and purposeful, not knee-jerk reactions to events on earth.  Paul Helm, “But none of this means that God is devoid of (what we call) feelings. He loves his creation, he cares for his people, he hates unrighteousness, and so on … Rather his ‘emotional life’ is an expression of his perfect goodness and knowledge. The life of God is not first passive and then reactive, as ours is, but it is wholly active.”

Does this mean that Christ, only in his human nature, is passionate or emotional or affected or suffers?

Luke 19:41–42     And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

John 11:35     Jesus wept.

Mark 6:34     When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

Hebrews 2:18     For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

What does it mean that God is both transcendent and immanent?

Is Divine Impassibility more eisogesis than exegesis?

Who are they who oppose the doctrine of impassibility?

Thomas Jay Oord

Bonhoeffer, “Only a suffering God can help ….”

Bibliography

Aquinas, Thomas     Summa Theologiae 1a 14, 5.

Helm, Paul. “The Impossibility of Divine Passibility”. In The Power and Weakness of God. Ed. Nigel M. de Cameron. Edinburgh: Rutherford House Books, 1990.

Helm, Paul, “Divine Impassibility: Why Is It Suffering?”      http://www.rpcbmt.org/DivineImpassibility.html

Fowl, Stephen E.  The Theological Interpretation of Scripture (Oxford, Blackwell, 1997).

Johnson, Phillip R. God Without Mood Swings: Recovering the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility

Keating, James F., Thomas Joseph White. Divine Impassibility and the Mystery of Human Suffering. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.

Gavrilyuk, Paul L. The Suffering of the Impassible God: The Dialectics of Patristic Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004/ 2006.

Lister, Rob. God is Impassible and Impassioned: Toward a Theology of Divine Emotion. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012.

Weinandy, Thomas G. Does God Suffer? (Edinburgh, T and T Clark, 1999)

Creel, Richard E. Divine Impassibility. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

The Nature of Love: A Theology, Thomas Jay Oord (2010) ISBN 978-0-8272-0828-5

Sasser, Nathan. “God is Impassible and Impassioned”.

Scrutton, Anastasia Philippa. Thinking through Feeling: God, Emotion and Passibility. New York: Continuum, 2011.

Packer, J.I., Knowing God