Teaching: 1689 Chapter 2.2 God's External Relations
Revision 20240419.2030
Teaching notes for Reforming Truth Church's Conference "1689 On Holy Scriptures", March 23, 2024. These notes will be covering:
Recorded at Reforming Truth Church
Table of Contents
The Text
Romans 11:33–36 (CSB)
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?
35 And who has ever given to God, that he should be repaid?
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
Prayer
The Confession
God, having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself, is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them; he is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things, and he hath most sovereign dominion over all creatures, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever himself pleaseth; in his sight all things are open and manifest, his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain; he is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands; to him is due from angels and men, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience, as creatures they owe unto the Creator, and whatever he is further pleased to require of them.
The Intro
I am not sure if we, Christians, believe this or not. But for the sake of covering my bases, let me state this.
God does not need anything.
And just so we are crystal clear:
God does not need us.
I could try to paint a picture of a most perfectly content Father and a most perfectly content Son in most perfect harmonious community joined by the Holy Spirit for all of eternity past. And that in of God, they had the most perfect community and the most perfect relationship and were most perfect love.
To be honest, I can't because it would be a feeble attempt. Because we, on this side of heaven, cannot imagine such a relationship would ever exist.
God had everything he every needed because he is all-sufficient of himself.
This is hard to imagine because God had this perfect relationship within himself but we see broken relationships all the time.
Show of hands: how many know someone who has been divorced. 100% of us.
If God had this such perfect relationship, why create? More so, why create us? Why create us when are going to just sin against him anyway?
In other words, why us?
We know that we believe:
... in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
Nicene Creed
Since God is Creator, what is God's relationship to his creation? What is God's relation to us--mankind, human, the aptly named image bearers of God?
We will explore and answer the following questions:
- How God is not like us
- How God is towards us and for us
- What should we be towards him
We will attempt to answer these questions by breaking up this part of the confession and explaining with Scripture.
How God is not like us?
The All in all
God, having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself
To say God is good and wise and holy and blessedness and life and glory in and of himself is one thing to say.
But the Confession defines it one step better: having all.
Put it this way: whatever God is, he is at the max, the all of it, and the whole of it.
If he is good, he is all good. If he is blessed, he is all blessed. If he is glorious, he is all glorious. If he is life, he is all of life--in and of himself.
Once more, for God to be maxed out good, he does not have to compromise on his life, glory, nor blessedness. Does that make sense?
Like on my best day, I might be happy as a clam but then I am not wise with my resources nor time. God is not that like that.
The Aseity of God
is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them
Acts 17:23–28 (CSB)
24The God who made the world and everything in it—he is Lord of heaven and earth—does not live in shrines made by hands. 25
Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.
“God is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient. God is all-sufficient not only in Himself, but also for Himself, in the absolute sense, needing nothing from any creature. Christians often use expressions that are well meaning but that, if analyzed carefully, approach blasphemy. For example, “I’m so glad that so-and-so allowed God to work through him,” or “Thank you for letting God work through you.” Does this mean that God cannot work through me unless I allow Him? God does not need our permission to do anything, any more than He needed Paul’s permission to appear to him on the Damascus road, or Judas’ to use him for His greater glory, or that of Balaam’s ass to speak prophetically. God is self-sufficient, both in Himself and for Himself.”
R. C. Sproul. Truths We Confess. 55-57.
Let me use one clearest example:
Romans 6:1–2 (CSB) What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Go back to the garden: Adam and Eve in perfect right standing with God in perfect worship to God and perfect obedience to God could not experience the kindness and mercy and grace of God. They knew God loved them and he was good and life and blessedness.
But when they sin--they had a whole new set of feelings and vocabulary. Things like: sin, wickedness, sadness, shame, nakedness, worthless, loneliness, confusion.
But how did God respond to them? Not in quick judgement and wrath and punishment in which they and we are due--but the outpouring that gave us the better definition of what love really is: merciful, kindness, patience, gracious, forgiveness, redeeming, the gospel.
The Source of Everything
he is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things
Romans 11:33–36 (CSB)
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?
35 And who has ever given to God, that he should be repaid?
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
In short, for whatever we need, he is the source of that. Wanna be saved? You gotta go to God. Blessings? God. Provision? God. Protection? God. Joy? God. Happiness? God. Peace? God.
Salvation? God.
For there is no other name by which we are saved.
Sees and Knows Everything
in his sight all things are open and manifest, his knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to him contingent or uncertain
Hebrews 4:13 (CSB) No creature is hidden from him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
When I was freshly saved in 2007, there were still many errors and heresies still kicking around. One such heresy was the notion of that God does not know the future but he reacts to the actions and pleas of his creation. This heresy is called Open Theism. That the future is not determined by God but by the actions of his creation.
Author and pastor Greg Boyd, wrote a book defending this heresy and hinged his entire argument upon one passage about King Hezekiah:
2 Kings 20:1 (CSB) In those days Hezekiah became terminally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Set your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’ ”
Hezekiah, in response, prayed and wept bitterly for the Lord to extend his life.
What doe the Lord do? He extends his life.
We should, in light of the rest of Scriptures and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us, should look upon this passage and know that our God is so good and merciful and kind that he would extend one man's life because he prayed for it.
But Boyd saw it much differently--he saw that if you believed the right things, did the right things, prayed the right things, had a big enough faith, that you can get God to do whatever you need or want him to do.
That is the very definition of Paganism. God is not a pagan god--that is to say he is a not a demon who has no power in the material world--who is served by humans hands and will respond if you do the right things.
Guess what? None of us have done the right things--we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
How did God respond? He sent his only begotten Son!
Romans 3:21-26 (CSB) But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented him as an atoning sacrifice in his blood, received through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.
Shockingly enough, Mr. Boyd does not mention the Romans 3 passage in his book.
Perfection in who is his. what he thinks and what he does
he is most holy in all his counsels, in all his works, and in all his commands
Psalm 145:17 (CSB) The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all his acts.
So what?
How God is toward us and for us
He is our All in all
1 Corinthians 15:28 (CSB) When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.
Psalm 16:11 (CSB) You reveal the path of life to me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.
When God deals with you, he deals out of maxed out goodness and wisdom--full good and full wisdom. Nothing less and nothing more is possible.
You can trust God because you have his word. You have his word because you have his Son and Spirit dwelling in you forever.
He is our Source of Everything
For everything that we need--beyond food, shelter, provision, or protection--we need God.
Take a look at both Matthew and Luke's accounts of the Lord's Prayer.
Matthew 6:7-8 (CSB) When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.
Luke 11:13 (CSB) If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? ”
Put this all together: the Father knows what you need before you can even ask--and how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
Beyond food, provision, shelter, relationships, joy, happiness, and peace--any of that, we need one primary thing. We need God. We need God. And the Father knew that we needed him before we could even ask because he sent his only begotten Son to live perfectly, die in our place, resurrect so we would be born again, and ascended to the right of the Father completely sovereign over all things.
He is most Sovereign
Isaiah 46:10 (CSB) I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.
All of mankind since Adam and Eve have been at odds with the idea of the sovereignty of God. I am not going to bog down on this point but just to say this one thing.
If God is Creator and he created everything, and he is fully power, all-knowing, and ever-present, then he is fully sovereign over all his creation.
Sinners can buck against that. They will perish in their sins. Saints might wax theologically about his sovereignty--but whatever crazy ideas we come up with doesn't make God any less sovereign.
What are we towards him?
Taking Troy's teaching, adding to what I just taught to that, and the question must be asked: what do we have to do with God?
If God doesn't need us to be happy or content because he is all-sufficient, why even create us.
If God is holy and he knew for a fact we were not going to be holy, why even bother with us?
He created us for his good pleasure.
he hath most sovereign dominion over all creatures, to do by them, for them, or upon them, whatsoever himself pleaseth
Psalms 115:3 (CSB) Our God is in heaven and does whatever he pleases.
Psalms 135:6 (CSB) The LORD does whatever he pleases
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all the depths.
God does whatever he pleases him. When we do something that pleases us, it is never from a pure place and it is tinctured with sin. We are broken, fallen creatures. We cannot help it.
When God does something, anything, he does so because it pleases him.
Why create the heavens and the earth? Doing so pleased him.
Revelation 4:11 (CSB) Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.
Colossians 1:16 (CSB) For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him.
So why create us? To be image bearers. To be weak and frail and always running away and scared. Why?
Because it pleased him even more so--
Genesis 1:27 (CSB) So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female. (...) God saw all that he had made, and it was very good indeed. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.
We are to worship, serve, and obey him
In other words, we were made to worship. One way or another, we are going to worship. And when Adam and Eve were created, they perfectly worship God. It was very good. Yet, when they sinned against God, it went beyond just breaking God's law or even the breaking of the cosmos. Adam and Eve, in one tragic, catastrophic moment, have exchanged their perfect, right worship of God to sin-filled, broken, worthless, wicked worshiping not-God.
This is the damned exchange in Romans 1:
Romans 1:21-23 (CSB) For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
We are to be perfect
whatever he is further pleased to require of them
Not just "in order to be with God, you must be perfect". No, because we are his creation and he is a perfect Creator, he demands perfection from his created image bearers. Creation already obeys him. He is the their Creator Lord. They cannot help but to obey him. Angels obey him. To those angels who do not obey him, they are instantly ejected. (There is no epic fight. Christ said, "fell like lightning")
Yet we have completely, totally, immensely, failed him in everything we have done
Romans 3:10–12 (CSB)
10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.
Titus 3:3 (CSB) For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another.
Ephesians 2:1 (CSB) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins
We need him
I said it earlier with the divine and blessed truth--the truth that sets every Christian free: that God does not need us for anything. That should not cause any fear in us but a satisfaction and a joy that we are free to love God because he first loved us.
God is not like us. He is not the romantic partner who woos but then changes their mind when things don't go a certain way. God is not the spouse who covenants in the sight of God to love and cherish one another only to have a mid-life crisis and leave because they are not happy and have not been for a while.
God is not like us. We are whimsical--we change our minds on a dime. We are capricious--we are led by our emotions. We are fickle--we are not steadfast.
God is the opposite of that. He is content. He is perfect. He is satisfied. He is holy. He is love. He is perfect. He is without error. He is unchangeable. He is without passions.
This perfect Triune God, in His perfect relation between the Father, Son, and Spirit, from eternity past, did not look up the future and was wondering, "How can we get more of this love? How can we get more perfect relationship?"
No! He looked into the future, he looked upon me and you and saw that we were depraved and wicked and worthless. Nonetheless, he already made up his mind about us. What was his relationship to us--to his people--before the foundations of the world were laid and before he called time and space into existence.
Romans 5:8 (CSB) But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Yes, he pleased him more to create us.
Yet, in his great love for us, while we were yet sinners, he sent is Son to die for us.
It never says, "He saw us on our good days and picked us because we were awesome." No! He saw our helpless estate and proclaimed, "I want that one. That is mine. That is my child. I love them and I want them. And I will spare no expense to bring this child to me."
John 3:16 (CSB) For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Titus 3:3-7 (CSB) For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.
Ephesians 2:1-7 (CSB) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:31-32 (CSB) What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything?
Closing
And he never changed his mind about us. He will never will because he never began to think of us. He will never stop loving us because he never began to love us.
How do we know this?
We know this for a bona fide, unbreakable, unchangeable, rock solid fact because God the Father sent his only begotten Son for us.
And even though the damned exchange swapped what should have been good worship to God, instead we are left with worthless, sinful worship of idols.
Yet, in his pleasure and his great love for us, Christ came to this earth for the Greatest Exchange. Christ exchanged our sins for his righteousness, our punishment for his reward, our death for his life, and our destiny of hell for his predestination of life with our holy Father forever and ever.
Colossians 1:13-14 (CSB)
13 [God] has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.14 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
His relation with all of creation: he is Sovereign Lord.
But as his people, we get not just our Sovereign, but we get to call him Father because Christ is our Lord and our God. Forever. Amen.