Man’s Creation and Relationships
By Gordon C. Olson paraphrased by Larry Allen
Copyright © 1980 Revival Theology Promotion PO Box 9183 North St. Paul, MN 55109 All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Unless otherwise indicated all Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible Update, (c) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
Contents Chapter 4
1. God created people with marvelous abilities of personality to enter into happy fellowship with his Creator and with one another.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a. The ability of intellect.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b. The ability of emotions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c. The ability of will or self-determination.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1 2 2 2
2. God created people's lives to consist in the full expression of his personality. . . . . . . . . . . a. Relationship with God: Spiritually. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b. Relationship with one another: Socially. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c. Relationship with the physical world: Physically.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2 3 3 3
3. The unalterable condition of happiness for the Godhead and for all people must be an intelligent recognition of all relationships and a devoted commitment to actively fulfil all the obligations we perceive.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 a. The Ten Commandments define man's obligations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 b. The Lord Jesus reaffirmed the eternal necessity of the Ten Commandments. . . . . . . . 6 c. New Testament revelation further reduces the Ten Commandments to one word "love"6. 4. God designed people to be regulated by truth, and choose what is right in submission to God’s authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 a. Responsible human choice is different from all actions that result from causation.. . . 8 b. Under what conditions does God hold a person responsible, and accountable and subject to judgment for sin? ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1) A person must have the intellectual ability to actually understand what his essential obligations to God and one another are.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2) A person must have access to an atmosphere of truth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3) A person must have the ability to obey what he knows he must do.. . . . . . . . . . . . 9 c. We now ask, "Do all men have this understanding and a conscience which makes them guilty before God for disobedience? .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1) Scriptures reveal that people have a very great moral light through his natural observations of the created universe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2) Scriptures reveal the sources of this moral light from which we build our concepts of reality.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 5. Great blessing follows to God's loving and reasonable requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a. People experience favor and friendship with God and with one another.. . . . . . . . . . b. People partake of the life-giving energy of God.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . c. People experience a blessed state of peace, joy, and praise.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11 11 11 12
The Rule of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Man's Creation and Relationships Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and let them rule over . . . all the earth . . . ' And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him.Gen.1:26-27 God . . . made from one every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth . . . He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist.Acts 17:26-28 We are the temple of the living God; just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'2Co.6:16 Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.1Co.10:31
Introduction What is this article all about? • God created people with marvelous abilities of personality to enter into happy fellowship. • God created people's lives to consist in the full expression of their personality. • Love is the unalterable condition of happiness for both God and for people. • God designed people to be regulated by truth. • People are supposed to choose what is right. • They should submit themselves to God’s authority and follow his directions because these directions flow out of His intelligence and love. • Wonderful things flow from following God's loving and reasonable requirements. This is because the person is living according to his created design. God’s directions for our good always.
Created for Relationship with God and one another God has perfect relationship in the absolute oneness of the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit together.Jn.17:5 It is a joyful relationship. Out of His perfect love and infinite intelligence God created people because God chose to expand this joyful relationship to people. What a beautiful design. God did all that He needed to do and made possible this happy fellowship between God and man in relationship together. It was to be fellowship without end, an endlessly enlarging experience as our capacity for God continually increased.
Created with Personality in the Image of God 1. People needed to have a special design for God to pursue this exquisite purpose. That’s why God created people with marvelous abilities of personality. That gave them the opportunity to enter into happy fellowship with their Creator and with one another. A Tiny Replica of God’s Infinite Capacities God created our spiritual essence as a tiny replica of God’s infinite capacities. Ge. 1:26-27 and 2:7 tell us this. They use similar words: "image" and "likeness." "Image" speaks of a shadowing forth, or to shade. "Likeness" has the root meaning, ‘to be like, to compare.’ It speaks of being made out of the same mold (2 Chr.4:3) so that they resemble each other. (Ezk.1:16). 1Pt.1:16 (from Lv.11:44) and Mt. 5:48 imply that people have a personality very similar to the personality of God. Further, the Lord Jesus in His essential humanity so resembled the Being of God that He declared: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."Jn. 14:9 So people have personality capacities that make it possible for them to form moral character and to participate in blessed fellowship.
2
Man's Creation and Relationships
Abilities of Personality Having personality, we have: a. The ability of intellect. We can reason, understand, imagine and create. We have the ability to be conscious of God and also self-consciousness. We have a conscience. We also have a memory. Commonly Scripture calls this an ability of 'spirit" and "mind".. Job20:3; Prov.20:27; Is.1:18; 26:3, 9; 55:8-9; Mk.12:28-31; Jn.4:23-24; Ro.7:23-25; 12:1-2; 1Co.2:11-12, 16; Ep.2:3; 4:23; Ph.4:8; Tts.1:15; Hb.8:10. b. The ability of emotions. We have a full range of experiences – satisfaction, happiness, pleasure, pain, worship, adoration, and on and on. Commonly Scripture calls this an ability of "soul": Ge. 2:7; 1Co.15:45, 44; Nu.21:4; Job 10:1; Ps.42:1, 5-6; 63:5-7; 84:2; Is.61:10; Mt.11:28-30; 22:36-37; Lk.1:46-47; 12:19-21; 1Pt. 1:22-23. c. The ability of will or self-determination. We have the ability to originate our own actions regardless of the internal and external influences we encounter. Commonly Scripture calls this the "heart" of man: Ex.36:2: Dt.4:29; 5:29; 1Sam.7:3; 1Kgs.8:38-40; Ps.10:3-4; 57:7; Jer.17:9-10; 29:12-13; Dan.1:8; Mk.7:21-23; 11:22-24; Lk.9:46-47; Acts 7:39; 11:23; Ro.6:17 (16-18); 10:9-10; 1Co.7:37; 2Co.9:7; Hb.3:8 (7-9), 12; 4:12. A unity of function People are not a divisible being. Spirit, soul, and heart function together as a single unit – a unified whole personality. Every action is a unified action with our abilities inseparably connected together. To that spiritual essence, God gave us our physical bodies. So we have an "inner man" and an "outer man" and “our inner man is being renewed day by day.”2Co.4:16 Each person is a complete personality, a spiritual being dwelling in a spiritual body, for a while on this earth. But the Apostle Paul wrote that our "earthly tent which is our house,' will one day be "torn down" . . . but he continued, we will "be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."2Co.5:1,8 Jesus called the body the outside and told the Pharisees, they were evil, saying, “inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness. Jesus rebuked them. The "inside" was not clean. He rebuked hypocrisy.Lk.11:39-40 He spoke of "heart," "soul," and "mind" as comprising our personalities (Mt. 22:37; Mk. 12:29-30; and approved Lk.10:27-28).1 We are therefore, a whole personality, having: a. An intellectual function or mind, or a spiritual function. It allows us to be God-conscious as well as self conscious; b. A soulish function qualifying for experiences or reactions; and c. A "heart" function. We can therefore, choose our own actions. The spirit, mind, heart, and soul are all joined to a bodily existence. A personality has a "heart" or will to take action, a "spirit" and "mind" to think about action in a God-man and man-man perspective, and a "soul" to experience and appreciate action.
Created for the full expression of personality 2. God created people's lives to fully express their personality in glorious fellowship with God – and for one another too. He put us in relationships that give us the opportunity to express our whole personality. This was God's plan. In God, “We live and move and exist.”Acts 17:28 Paul declared, “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”1Co.10:31 . . . “You also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”Ep.2:22 The word "dwelling" speaks of a permanent dwelling place in contrast to a sojourner. But the blessed fulfillment of these planned relationships can only be found if people will fulfill their obligations. A person can never experience what God longed for them as long as he lives in selfish independence.
1
See “The Trichotomy Dual Nature Concept of Personality,” in the Olson’s Article: “The Consequences of Man's Rebellion.
Man's Creation and Relationships
3
Created for Relationship with God a. Spiritually, God created us to have an absolutely intimate relationship with the Godhead. God provided all people need for this perfect and continued fellowship.2 A person’s relationship with God is absolutely unique. God does not need to connect with us through the physical senses. Instead He extends glorious communion with us into our innermost center of our personalities.
Nature of Personality Endowments -- God created people in "the image of God," with abilities of: Intellect: Reasoning powers, Imagination, God-consciousness, Self-consciousness, Conscience, Memory Emotion: Capacity to experience what is thought and acted upon. Will: The ability of self-direction, the ability to originate our own actions. These abilities function harmoniously together and are connected to Physical Existence. Operation -- These abilities form a unity of action, not a collection of isolated parts which can function independently: Everything we do: Comes from a decision of will. Involves our Intelligence and perception. Leads to Emotional Reactions or experiences. Gets approved of or disapproved of by the Conscience. (More or less according to one's moral understanding of what he ought to do.) Is registered in the Memory in complete perspective. C C
(A composite picture of the whole procedure, with all the factors involved.) (Instinctive non-moral actions, like pulling the hand away from a hot stove, are spontaneous habits acquired through mental conclusions of the past.) Relationship with our fellow man
b. Relationship with one another: Socially, a person associates with other people through the five physical senses: Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching.3 How happy are the possibilities of human friendship in the mutual presence of the Godhead. Relationship with the physical world c. Relationship with the physical world: Physically, a person links with the world and the universe in the midst of all its diverse life and activity: 1) The world visibly displays God’s character and greatness. It greatly inspires adoration, confidence, gratitude, and worship: Ps.8:3-6; 104:24; 136:1-9; Prov.3:19; Jer.51:15; Acts 14:15. 2) Adam’s surroundings in the Garden of Eden gave a friendly and inspiring atmosphere for mutual fellowship and happiness with all its fascinating discoveries. God brilliantly designed it to meet every physical need.Ge.2:9 Living in such pleasant surroundings set a perfect stage for delightful
2
God provided all people need for this perfect and continued fellowship: Ge.1:26-27; 17:1; Ex.33:11, 14; 1Chr.28:9; 2Chr.6:30; 16:9; Is.57:15; Zeph.3:17; Mt.28:20 (Ga.2:20; Col.1:27); Jn.2:24-25; 4:23-24; 14:23; 17:3, 23; Acts 17:24-28; Hb.4:13; 1Jn.4:16; Rv.3:20. 3
Socially, a person associates with other people through the five physical senses: Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching: Ge.2:18, 20 (man alone amidst the animals); Acts 17:26 (He made from one, every nation of mankind); Ge.11:1, 4 (companionship is natural); 1Sam.18:1, 3 (David and Jonathan); Mt.22:36-40 (the twofold relationship); Jn.17:21-23 (that they may all be one); Acts 2:41-47 (the early Church); Ro.15:32 (refreshing rest by friendship); Ep.4:25 (members of one another); 2Tim.1:3-5 (Paul and Timothy); 1Pt.3:7 (a fellow-heir of the grace of life ); 1Jn.1:3-4, 7 (you also may have fellowship with us, . . so that our joy may be made complete.)
4
Man's Creation and Relationships
relationships. Before Adam and Eve sinned, toil, antagonisms of nature, pain, sickness, and death were unknown in the midst of buoyant invigorating activity.Ge. 2:8-17
Love – The unalterable condition of Relationship 3. Love is the unalterable condition of relationship with God and one another. Love demands an intelligent pursuit and devoted commitment to actively fulfil all the obligations we know about. This eternal condition of happiness shines forth as we live by the dictates of intelligence. Love means being willing to live in a way that is right and proper. It means we live up to our understanding of how we ought to live just like God does. Paul commanded, Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you.Ep.5:1-2 The Godhead fulfil their obligations with absolute perfection. That is why Scripture declares: God is light.1Jn.1:5 – bringing perfect understanding. Therefore, we must live in obedience to all the truth we understand. It is imperative that we do not forsake a love of the truth. We must have a genuine hunger to know the Bible – God’s Word.Jn.3:19-21 God will never require anything that is arbitrary. In other words, He has sufficient, intelligent reasons for every direction and command He gives. His ways are based upon absolute reason and truth. We must walk in His ways. Moses wrote, (Y)ou shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.4 God’s commandments apply His intelligence and love to our relationships a. Love requires the Ten Commandments to define man's obligations.Ga.3:19 They can never be changed or suspended in our present relationships. To do so would violate our created design and be more destructive than driving a car without oil in its engine: Ps.19:7-8; Mt.5:17-18; Ro.7:12, 14; 1Tim.1:5, 8-9. The ten commandments are not optional suggestions. They are commands.5 1. God deserves our supreme love. We must treasure Him above all else. 2. We must not worship images. (Genuine relationship requires true understanding of God.) 3. We must not use God’s name in vain. Irreverent and careless communication that destroys respect and admiration for God; (Genuine relationship builds on respect. We must never do or say anything that brings dishonor to the Most Holy God); 4. Honor the sabbath day. Relationship with God and one another requires a day of focus on rest and meditation. All our time and activities must be prioritized for use that God’s kingdom may come and His will be done; 5. Honor and love parents; (Family is the most fundamental of all relationships and is the building block of all society.); 6. Do not murder; (God created every person equally valuable, and gave His commands to preserve, protect, and defend the life and liberty of every person.);
4
Dt.8:6 We honor God as our Supreme Ruler and live as happy subjects of the kingdom of God: Ps.5:2; 84:3; Mt.5:3; 6:33: 7:21-23; 18:1-4; Jn.3:3; Ro.14:17. 5
The Ten Commandments:Ex.20:1-17 & Dt.5:1-22 1) Command supreme love to God,Dt.6:5 forbidding every form of mental idolatry. (We must value God supremely because He is supremely valuable, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.Mt.6:21); 2) Prohibit the making and worshiping of images. (Genuine relationship requires true understanding of God.); 3) Oppose all irreverent or careless communication that destroys respect and admiration for God; (Genuine relationship builds on respect. We must never do or say anything that brings dishonor to the Most Holy God); 4) Command a sabbath day every week for rest and meditation, refraining from all unnecessary workMk.2:27-28 ; (All our time and activities must be prioritized for use that God’s kingdom may come and His will be done.); 5) Command honor and love to parents; (Family is the most fundamental of all relationships and is the building block of all society.); 6) Forbid murder; (God created every person equally valuable, and gave His commands to preserve, protect, and defend the life and liberty of every person.); 7) Forbids adultery; (God created a man and woman for a purity of relationship in intimacy. Impurity is destructive to the marriage partner, to children, and to the family institution which is foundational human relationship of society); 8) Forbids theft; (God established the reality of private property by upholding the exclusive right, under God, of every person to possess, to enjoy, and to arrange and distribute property as he chooses, within the framework of God’s commands);
Man's Creation and Relationships
5
Triangle of Fellowship and Blessing • • • • • • • • • • •
"The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His" (2 Chr. 16:9). "The true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (Jn. 4:23-24). 'This is eternal life, that they may know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (Jn. 17:3). "In Him (God) we live and move and exist" (Acts 17:28). "W hatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (I Co. 10:31). "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word (said Jesus); and My Father will love him, and W e will come to him, and make Our abode with him" (Jn. 14:23). "That they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us" (Jn. 17:21). "That you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ" (I Jn. 1:3). "They were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people" (Acts 2:46-47). "That I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company" (Ro. 15:32, Paul to the Roman church). "Longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy" (2 Tim. 1:4, Paul to Timothy,, "my beloved son").
7. Do not commit adultery; (God created a man and woman for a purity of relationship in intimacy. Impurity destroys all relationships, and the family institution which is the foundational human relationship of society); 8. Do not steal; (God protects private property by upholding the exclusive right, under God, for every person to possess, to enjoy, and to arrange and distribute property as he chooses, within the framework of God’s commands); 9. God forbids false witness and misrepresentations of every sort; (A person’s standing in society demands respect and trust, and to maliciously destroy that foundation by falsehood steals from that person his God-given right for one or more human relationships); 10. God forbids covetousness – a dissatisfied state of mind which the New Testament calls idolatry.Ep.5:5; Col.3:5
6
Man's Creation and Relationships
Obviously, by giving the Ten Commandments, God expressed His love and intelligence. God commanded us to obey them for our good always.Dt.6:24 They uphold what is absolutely essential for God’s and for people’s happiness.6 The Ten Commandments are essential to Relationships b. In love, the Lord Jesus reinforced the necessity of following the Ten Commandments. He placed them into two groupings:M t.22:36-40, M k.12:28-34 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.Mt.22:40 He emphasized to the Lawyer who confronted Him that we must live by the commandments.Lk.10:25-28 The are eternally necessary. 1) "The first four commandments direct us to eternally love God supremely and relate to Him according to the eternally reality of love and truth. 2) The last six commandments uphold our mutual and equal obligation to love one another. `
The Ten Commandments fulfil love c. The New Testament reduces the Ten Commandments to one word "love": Ro.13:8-10; Ga.5:14; 1Tim.1:5; Jas.2:8-10. "Love" in this context is not an emotional quality. Instead, it is something active. It is a voluntary commitment to choose the highest good toward God and all mankind. This calls us to live by God’s intelligence and truth, and never make arbitrary choices. Instead we must follow God who always has sufficient, intelligent reasons and directs us in a life that promotes the highest good for all. A person’s moral obligation is very simple and logical. It is to live according to God’s intelligence by obeying Him. God sees perfectly what upholds the highest good for the whole moral universe. Thus, we abide in His intelligence and love, instead of choosing to be misfits in the realm of God. We willingly live like God lives, for God declared: You shall be holy, for I am holy.1Pt.1:16 Holiness is a term that describes all who choose to live by a voluntary disposition of love. Just as God is love1Jn.4:8,16 so everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.1Jn4:7 Jude emphasizes to Christians: Keep yourselves in the love of God.Jude 1:21 Love . . . is the fulfillment of the law.Ro.13:10 Therefore, love is the unalterable condition of happiness. As beloved children walk in love.Ep.5:1-2
Conformity to Truth is Essential to all Relationships 4. God designed people to be directed by truth, and choose what is right in submission to His authority. God guides, regulates, and directs people out of His intelligent supervision. He does this by teaching people what is right and proper to do. He clearly warns them that when a person chooses an action, he also chooses the consequences that are inseparably connected with that action. He declared, If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.Is.1:19-20 People, by the actions they do, determine for themselves what consequences they will experience. People are capable of either right or wrong action. God appeals to them to let Him teach them what is the right and proper way to live. How sad when people do not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.2Th.2:10 Jesus spoke (I think out of sadness) that Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.Jn.3:19 God calls upon us to submit our intelligence to His truth. God commands us to understand it. God said, Come, let us reason together.Is.1:18 His truth appeals to us to see and to do what we ought to do. Any person willing to be reasonable knows that he needs such such guidance in order to protect the rights and 6
Moses and Israel’s leaders knew this: Ex.24:3; Dt.5:1, 23-24, 27, 28-29; 6:24-25; 8:1-2, 6, 11; 10:12-13; 11:22-23; 26:1626:16-19; 28:47-48, 58-59; 30:8-10, 11-14, 15-20. Joshua 22:5, Ezra 7:23-26, David Ps.19:7-l1; 40:8, the psalmist 119:97-99; 165-168, Solomon 1Kgs.8:57-61, a prophet 2Kgs.17:13, 7-18, Daniel 9:9-11, Micah 6:8, Stephen Acts 7:51, 53.
Man's Creation and Relationships
7
well-being of all people. Since God is infinitely intelligent and perfectly loving, He alone is qualified to be our ruler. In addition, He is totally worthy of our entire lives. He is supremely qualified to rule. We are truly guilty if we do not submit to Him as our Supreme Ruler. We bear the name, image of God. God created us with this moral design for a unique purpose. Having created us this way, He thus directs our lives differently from the way He controls the trees and the rocks. Instead of wanting to control us by using coercive forces, God seeks to rule over us is by using influences. An influence is an appeal to choice. He influences us to choose what is right: (1) by using Truth, (2) by His acts of love, and (3) by the consequences coming from moral law, and (4) by the natural consequences we experience from the choices we have made. We have the opportunity to submit to an influence or to reject it. We can say, yes, or no to a good influence, and we can say, yes, or no to an evil influence. God appeals to us to obey Him and to make the right choices: Dt.30:19 – I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that you may live.7 God seeks to regulate people by using influence, instead of causation To fulfil the reality of love relationships, we must be allowed to be the authors of our own actions. Otherwise, the very purpose for our created "image" cannot be realized. We could not love if we were simply mechanical robots, being caused to act. If the ‘may’ or ‘may not’ of choice is not allowed to exist, then moral regulation ends and all that remains is simply a control through cause and effect. If God had created us as beings whose actions were controlled by coercion, God might delight that these causations revealed His awesome power. However, He would never get the opportunity to experience the joy of interacting with moral creatures. We would not have opportunity and ability to choose to be in happy submission to Him and to genuinely and voluntarily love Him.8 2Chr.16:9; Zeph.3:17 Love relationship’s reality and significance become impossible if God uses causation as His way to control us. (In rare instances, God may perhaps use a causation, but this is abnormal. It is unusual.) To allow the opportunity of choice, the means of regulation must not be an irresistible force; it cannot be a causation. The crowning feature of the way God created people is this: God gave people the ability to originate their own actions. Therefore, he appeals to them to choose. The means of control is through influence, not causation. A person may choose to submit to or he might rebel and refuse to submit to His influences. A person may reject it and go his own way. But his choice is one of the essential elements that determines what happens. Until his choice is actually made, the outcome is uncertain and unpredictable. The Lord appeared to Abraham and said: I am God Almighty; walk before Me, and be blameless.Gen.17:1 If God had caused Abraham to walk perfectly, then Abraham would be one of God’s robots. But God declared, Abraham, My friend.Is.41:8 Apart from human choice, friendship and moral values would evaporate. God deals with people as eternally significant beings. God’s rule over people becomes an amazing study in contrasts as the great God appeals in humility to the heart of man – even though a person’s heart is so profoundly small and limited. Yet He appeals to us to conform to His wise and holy ways in blessed fellowship.Rv.3:20 It is the very essence of the way that God rules over us – He allows each person to be the sole author of his own actions. God influences him, with strong appeals, wanting him to choose rightly. Yet God never brings any influence that is so strong that it becomes coercive and removes the opportunity for a person to choose.
7
God appeals to us to obey Him and to make the right choices: Dt.30:19, Josh.24:15; Is.1:19-20; Jer.21:8; Mt.23:37; Jn.5:40; Ro.2:5-11; Re.3:20. 8
2Chr.16:9 – For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Zeph.3:17 – the Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over you with singing.
8
Man's Creation and Relationships
a. Since God designed people to be directed by truth, responsible human choice cannot be coerced. All of God’s creation must be under His regulation. If God did not rule, total chaos would result. God would be negligent if He did not guide, direct, and regulate. Total catastrophe would develop. But God does rule! Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.Rv.19:6 The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all.Ps.103:19 King David declared, The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works . . . Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.Ps.145:9,13 Yet when God rules over people, He allows people to choose, and that produces what is called a moral action. 1) A moral action differs from all other activity that occurs in the physical world. God controls other activities through the law of cause and effect: Is.45:5-7,12,18; Col.1:16-17; Hb.1:1-3. A Physical law operates by using the law of cause and effect. God’s control of the physical world is by physical law. Physical law is the description of how things occur through the control of causation (It might be gravity causing a stone to fall, or heat causing water to boil.) In such cases, God in His great power operates by sheer force, either directly or through a method we call the laws of nature. Created substances, like rocks, do not possess a life of growth or self-locomotion. Some causation must act upon them to produce a change or a movement. When the cause happens, under the same set of conditions, a certain result always follows. God causes the result by His unbounded energy and immeasurable intelligence. 2) A moral action differs from the actions of animals that are caused by instinct: Ge.9:2; Dt.32:11-12; 1Kgs.17:4, 6; Mt.8:20; 17:27. An instinct operates by using the law of cause and effect. When an animal is controlled by instinct, God in omnipotence holds absolute sway over what animals do by the law of instinct. Instinct is that mysterious control by which, independent of all instruction or experience – without deliberation – and without having any end in view – animals are directed unerringly and spontaneously to do whatever is necessary to preservation. In these more intricate areas of creation, God uses most mysterious controls that produce profound results. Incredible things happen that people find totally unexplainable. They amaze us. They reveal the incredible reality and glory of God. From all these wonders, people have gracious opportunity to know the reality of God. Now instincts and physical laws both bring control using a cause (a coercive force) to produce its effect. Under the same set of conditions, the cause always produces its effect. The results are always certain. It produces glorious sunsets. It guides all the Plover birds to fly all the way from Alaska to Hawaii. We see powerful testimonies of God's awesome wisdom and power. However, you cannot blame a rock if it hits you on the head when it falls. Obviously the rock is not the cause of its action. Thus, the rock is not responsible, nor guilty, nor accountable (for hitting you on the head.) It is not worthy of either praise or of blame. What happened is simply the result of what it was caused to do. 3) A moral action differs from an action done by a person when forced to do something by governmental providence. This is a rare situation. It is abnormal and unusual. In this unusual situation God temporarily sets aside options so that an event can only go one way. The end result must come forth because God removes other options. Ex.11:9-10; Dt.2:25; Josh.11:20; 2Kgs.7:6-7; Ps.22:28; Dan.4:17; Lk.4:28-30; Jn.7:30.
In a situation of Governmental Providence, God only allows one outcome. People have refused to remain intelligent and stay submitted to God's rule in the kingdom of God. People's selfishness cannot maintain a necessary level of order in the world. Order disintegrates into anarchy. God has had to use an unusual and temporary means of control in order to maintain a workable world order and bring to pass various events that preserve a moral environment where He can continue to extend His grace and mercy to people. Selfishness does
Man's Creation and Relationships
9
not have what it takes to produce a tolerable society. God must not let it go on. He must put an end to it. People have refused to restrain themselves. Thus, God in wisdom had to introduce methods of producing involuntary restraint for man's own ultimate good. This control became essential because sin introduced the confusion of moral values and relationships. The Scriptures give a list of passages describing God's operations in the enforced realm of this providence (governmental providence). These verses present an exactly opposite picture to those large number of verses that tell of God's humble appeal for entrance into and voluntary response from men's hearts. God's operations in this abnormal realm are varied and complicated. As we will see, restrictive measures have had to be instituted against man from the realm of nature and from the animal kingdom. Instead of pleasant occupation as an outlet for intelligent activity, there is instead toil and struggle, pain and hardship, and finally suffering and death. These judgments against sin restrain the further development of sin and its consequences. Summary of physical law, instinct, and governmental providence Whether the regulation is one of force, or instinct, or by mental coercion, the exact desired effects always occur. An adequate cause produces a definite result. This is in stark contrast with the uncertainty of what may happen when God allows people to choose their own actions. (See "The Domain of God" chart on the next page). What is a moral action? b. Since God designed people to be directed by truth, a moral action is an action that comes as the result of a person’s choice. The person chooses what goal he will pursue in response to a particular influence he chooses to respond to. The person is responsible for what he chooses and accountable for what he does. If he disobeys his conscience, he is guilty before God. When does God hold a person accountable for his actions? He does under three conditions: 1) A person must have the intellectual ability to actually understand his essential obligations to God and to mankind. 2) A person must have access to truth and let it impress his mind and conscience with what he ought to do. Right action can only follow right understanding. a) He must also understand that God will make it possible for him to walk in intimate freshness with the Holy Spirit, having victory through relationship with the Holy Spirit.Ro.8:13 b) God is warning him to live rightly out of love; God will enforce His law with appropriate consequences. c) He must know that good consequences follow virtuous action, and awful consequences follow rebellious action. These must be so vivid in his imagination as to be an incentive to obey the light of conscience and fear disobedience. 3) A person must have the ability to obey what he knows he must do. c. Since God designed people to be directed by truth, we now ask, "Do all men have this understanding? Do they have a conscience which lays the basis for guilt before God because they truly disobeyed? Do they deserve threatened eternal punishment if they disobey and remain unrepentant?” To that, God has declared, “Do you have contempt for God, who is very kind to you, puts up with you, and deals patiently with you? Don’t you realize that it is God’s kindness that is trying to lead you to him and change the way you think and act? Since you are stubborn and don’t want to change the way you think and act, you are adding to the anger that God will have against you on that day when God vents his anger. At that time God will reveal that his decisions are fair. He will pay all people back for what they have done.”Ro.2:4-6 God said such people are storing up judgment against themselves in the day of judgment and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.Ro.2:5-6 Will God deal with each person according to his deeds? What do the Scriptures reveal? 1) Scriptures reveal that people have very great moral light through their natural observations of the created universe. Light is a figurative expression. It refers to that understanding which shows them what their actions ought to be. All things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.Ep.5:13 The Bible declares, God is light.1Jn.1:5 God is absolutely morally perfect in His character and actions. Therefore, Jesus declared, I am the
10
Man's Creation and Relationships
light of the world.Jn.8:12 People have all around them an unending set of evidence to impress upon them what their moral obligations are. The Scripture stresses the great guilt that every person has when they reach the age of accountability and their reasoning powers are functioning. a) These natural observations are the basis of guilt and condemnation: Ro.1:18-20 ; 2:11-12, 14-16; 3:19 (all the world . . . accountable to God'); 3:23 (all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.)
Notice that even if a person has never seen a Bible nor heard the Gospel, he still stands without excuse.Ro.1:20 While the Gospel greatly adds guilt to those reject it, it is still not the primary basis of condemnation. God looks inside of us, and He knows what truth we are unwilling to learn and unwilling to live by. b) This moral light calls upon us to seek after God. Yet philosophical reasoning may diminish or remove its force: Acts 17:28; Ro.1:18; Col.2:8; 2Tim.4:4. If we do not want to comply with this moral light, we set about to reason it away. It is thus that men suppress the truth in unrighteousness,Ro.1:18 and philosophy and empty deception take them captive, according to the tradition of men.Col.2:8 The idea in the last passage is that false philosophy carries the person off as prey or as booty. It describes a continuous process. 2) Where do we come into contact with moral light? Scriptures point out six sources of this moral light, from which we build our concepts of reality and bring conviction to our conscience: a) We can be amazed with ourselves. Our inner personalities and abilities are impressive.Ps.8:4 We have the ability to think, to reason, to view facts and draw conclusions from them. At the same time we react in emotional response. b) We can be amazed with our bodies. God made us fearfully and wonderfully, beyond comprehension. Our bodies let us contact the physical world through our five senses: Seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching.Ps.139:14 We have the great privilege to observe our surroundings. We could investigate these things for an eternity because they extend from the infinitely small to the inconceivably immense.Ps.19:1; Is.40:26; Jer.10:12; Ro.1:20 c) We can be amazed with human relationships. Daily contact with one another places us under human obligation; this is "the golden rule." We recognize that we ought to treat others as we would want them to treat us.Mt.7:12 The wonders from our observations overwhelm us with evidence of the Creator God. This confronts us with so much light that we must exert great resistance if we are unwilling to let it lead us to choose what we ought to choose. d) We can be amazed when we face moral influences directly from God. He awakens the mind and quickens the conscience: Jn.1:9; 16:8-11; Ro.1:18; 2:15; Acts 17:27; Jn.12:32 (Nobody ever gets saved without the Holy Spirit mysteriously drawing him and leading him to reflect upon the truth.) e) We can be amazed by the special moral direction that we have access to in the Bible: (1) Before man's rebellion: Ge.2:16-17; 3:2-3, 8-10. Adam and Eve must have experienced such happy realities of God's presence before their rebellion.Ge.3:8-10 God gave them specific instructions in their submission and confidence that must have pleased God. (2) Progressively after the Fall: Ge.3:15, 21; 4:4; 5:24; 6:13; 15:1; 17:1. (3) By the beauty of the Law and the Ten Commandments: Ex.19:3; 20:1. (4) Through the coming, teaching, and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus: Jn.1:17-18. (5) Through final New Testament revelation: 2Tim.3:16; 2Pt.1:19-21. f) We can be amazed by the clear and sobering consequences that God’s law declares. Blessing follows right moral action; suffering follows wrong moral action. These enforce moral law. The legal world calls these consequences sanction. A sanction is "that which encourages us to obey a law or custom." In law it is "the detriment, loss of reward, or other coercive
Man's Creation and Relationships
11
intervention, that a person receives who violates moral law. It is a means of enforcing the law." Sanctions are both positive and negative – There are either rewards of blessings for obedience or else suffering from penalties for disobedience. As a simpler term, the word "consequences" tells us what the righteous God imposes upon people, depending upon what they choose. Thus, moral law has the idea of sanctions or consequences connected with it. A moral law is the description of what we ought to do. God's moral law always expresses His infinite intelligence. It is true intelligence. Every moral law tells us that we ought to obey God. The strength of the influence from a moral law comes from the consequences that God uses to enforce it. He rewards submission to His loving and intelligent rules with blessing and happiness. Suffering and unhappiness are the reward if we rebellion against His intelligent direction. The whole strength and effectiveness of God's law rest in His declaration that righteous consequences will occur. Blessing will follow obedience. Suffering will follow disobedience. A moral law without consequences is not moral law, but only mere advice. God uses moral law to influence a world toward happy relationships. There must be consequences: (1) Without moral law, moral regulation of the selfish heart would collapse.9 It gives the only means of controlling selfishness: Dt.30:15-18 – Today I offer you life and prosperity or death and destruction. This is what I’m commanding you today: Love the LORD your God, follow his directions, and obey his commands, laws, and rules. Then you will live, your population will increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you’re about to enter and take possession of. But your hearts might turn away, and you might not listen. You might be tempted to bow down to other gods and worship them. If you do, I tell you today that you will certainly be destroyed.” Also: De.11:26-28; 30:15-20; 1Sam.12:13-15, 24-25; Is.3:10-11; 26:9; Jer.18:7-10; Jn.3:36; Ro. 2:6-10; 6:16.
(2) Without moral law, God would be neglectful and cease to be love. He must enforce His law for our good always. Ge.18:25; De.7:9-11; De.6:24. (3) Without moral law, God would not be righteous and impartial. He would not be treating people according to their actions: Ps.7:9; Jer.9:24; 1Co.4:5; 2Tim.4:8; Hb.6:10. g) We can be amazed because God’s consequences perfectly match exact justice: (1) God declares that He is not partial. He does not favor one above another in personal salvation or consequences: De.10:17; 2Chr.19:7; Ps.62:12; Prov.24:12; Ezk.18:30; Lk.20:21 (said of Christ); Acts 10:34-35; Ro.2:6-11; Ga.2:6; Ep.6:9; Col.3:25; Jas. 2:8-9; 1Pt.1:17; Rv.2:23. (2) Consequences rest solely upon what people ought to receive, and God perfectly evaluates what is right: Dt.24:16; 2Chr. 25:4; Ps.94:23; Jer.31:30; 32:19; Ezk.18:20; Ro.2:6-11; 14:11-12; 1Pt.1:17. (3) Consequences are and will be in exact accord or in proportion to precisely what each person deserves: Jer.32:19; Ro.2:6,12 (guilt in proportion to moral light); Ga.6:7-8. Consequences are essential to uphold the moral environment for relationships 5. Great blessing follows conformity to God's loving and reasonable requirements. God created people to experience and enjoy blessed relationships. God wanted them to exist in unbroken abundance forever. a. When people remain in happy submission to God, they experience favor and friendship with God and with one another: Ge.3:8; 5:24; 15:1; Ex.19:5-6; 33:10-11; Mt.23:37; Jn.14:23; 2Co.6:16-18; Ep.2:22; Re.3:20.
9
Without moral law, moral regulation of the selfish heart would collapse: De.11:26-28; 30:15-20; 1Sam.12:13-15, 24-25; Is.3:10-11; 26:9; Jer.18:7-10; Jn.3:36; Ro. 2:6-10; 6:16.
12
Man's Creation and Relationships
b. When people remain in happy submission to God, they partake of the life-giving energy of God: Ge.2:9 ("tree of life in the midst"); 2:16 ("eat freely"); Jn.1:4; 4:14; 5:21, 26; 6:33, 56-57; 7:37-38; Ro.8:11; 1Jn.5:12.
Before the Fall, man ate “freely" of "the tree of life." This perhaps maintained his body in perfect health and prevented any deterioration. Through grace the resurrected Christ becomes living and real through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Jesus became the source of our spiritual life and energizes our bodies to greater endurance. c. When people remain in happy submission to God, they experience a blessed state of peace, joy, and praise. 1) They experience a blessed state of peace in the depths of the heart: Ps.29:11; 119:165; Is.26:3; Jn.14:27; Acts 24:16; Ro.8:6; 14:17; 2Co.13:11; Ph.4:7; 1Jn.3:19-21.
2) They experience a buoyancy of overflowing joy: Le.23:40 (Feast of Tabernacles); De.30:9-10 (God's rejoicing); Ne.12:43; Ps.16:11; 89:15-16; Zeph.3:17 (God's joy); Jn.16:22, 24; Ro.14:17, 22; Ep.5:18-21; 1Pe. 1:8.
3) When people remain in happy submission to God, they experience spontaneous praise or worship, with singing: 1Chr.16:31, 34; 29:9-13; 2Chr.5:13-14; Ps.47:6-7; 98:4-6; 139:14; Lk.24:50-53; Acts 2:46-47; Ep.5:20; Ph.1:11; Hb.13:5, 15; Rv.19:5-7.
4) When people remain in happy submission to God, they experience an endless duration of life in God's presence: Jn. 17:3. a) Adam and Eve continued in perfect happiness with their Creator and with one another before their rebellion: Ge.1:27-31; 2:7-9, 15-17; 3:2-3. b) The blessed Gospel makes reconciliation to God possible, with its endless duration of life for all who repent and live the way God designed them to live: Ps.23:6; Dan.12:2; Mt.25:34, 46; Lk.18:28-30; 20:34-36; Jn.3:14-16; Jude21.
God created people in His image so they could experience such an incredible relationship with Him and with one another. Jesus suffered and died on the cross to provide the way of salvation that all people may have the opportunity to be restored to this wonderful purpose – the purpose for which God created people. By God's great grace and mercy He is able to restore repentant sinners to great joys. God does such loving, kind, and gracious things for us – things into which angels long to look.1Pt.1:12
----------------------------------------------------------
The Rule of God "Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigns." (Rev. 19:6) "The Lord has prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all." (Ps. 103:19) Definition: To rule: to direct; to control; to regulate; to influence; to restrain. The five methods God uses to rule over mankind 1.
Regulation through influence: The normal course of accountable, self-caused action, where man is allowed to choose between motives presented to the mind to form his own moral character and be sole author of his destiny. Here God says: "I have called, and you refused; I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded" (Prov. 1:24). a. b.
Through the influence of truth and acts of loving-kindness (Ro.2:4; Ro.8:14) When a person is in relationship with God, he responds to God's directions out of love in his heart for God and love for his fellowman. He is regulated by grace (Ro.6:14) Through moral law. If people reject relationship with God, then God brings regulation through moral law. Law is enforced with consequences. Good consequences follow conformity to God's law. Bad consequences follow disobedience to God's law. Regulation and control occurs because the penalty of law influences them to do what is right – not to steal, not to murder, etc. They restrain themselves out of fear of suffering and out of hope of getting some blessing. God brings understanding as to right and wrong conduct, along with the associated consequences. This involves understanding, the decision, and the reaction of a person's emotions as he experiences the consequences of his choices. God influences, but does not cause a person's moral choices. The person is the author of his own choices and is responsible and accountable for them. By them he chooses the course and destiny of his life. God
13
Man's Creation and Relationships
regulates using influences to maintain the opportunity to experience his created purpose. God reaches out to all people to give them the opportunity to be established in and enjoy loving relationships with God and with each other. Gen.6:5... Deut.30:19... Josh.24:15... I Kings 18:21... Prov.1:24... Isa.1:19,20; 45:22... Jer.18:5-10; 21:8... Ezek.20:7,8... Matt.23:37... John 1:11; 5:40... Acts 7:51... Rom.2:5-11; 6:16... Gal.6:7,8... Rev.3:20 c.
If a nation casts off God's law, God confronts the resulting anarchy (or tyranny) with national judgments (1Ki.17:1; Jr.4:16-18)
2.
Governmental Providence: This is the abnormal, unusual control of man by divine force. God removes all possible directions except one, leaving a man with no alternatives to choose. This, in effect, temporarily over-rules the person’s will, for a moment removing his moral freedom and accountability. God does this in order to bring about some particular plan of His mercy or judgment. In this way God prepares for the salvation of man, constrains the selfishness of governments within certain bounds, and enacts consequences for the moral choices of individuals and nations. This mode of operation was made necessary because of the entrance of sin into the world. It must vitally important to remember that that God never uses this method in salvation. Salvation is not a robotic condition but the joyous interaction of love relationship (Acts 26:18,19) . (men choose their own destiny. It is not chosen for them by the providential action of God). Ex.11:9,10... Deut.2:25... Josh.11:20.... Ps. 22:28... Prov. 21:1... Jer.32:27-30; 50:9... Dan.4:17, 32... Zeph.3:8... Jn.7:30;18:31,32;19:9-11... Rom.13:1... Rev.17:17
3.
Final judgment Destruction: Ge.6 -- 8; Ge.19:12,13; Josh.6; 1Sam.15;
Regulation over the physical and animal realms The regulation of all creation not capable of making moral (right or wrong) choices. This includes the animate and inanimate kingdoms. Here God rules by force.by the principle of cause and effect. The outcome is always certain and predictable. Physical realm Physical Law: the description of how things occur in the physical realm Regulation by a causation (gravity, etc.) W hat is caused is not free W hat is caused is not responsible W hat is caused is not accountable The effect is certain Gen.6:7,13; 19:24,25... Ex.14:16-21... 1Kgs.18:38... 2Chr.7:12-14... Jon.1:4, 14,15 ... Matt. 8:24-27 ... Col.1:16,17
Ps.93:1-4;135:5-9...
Is.45:5-7, 12,18...
Animal realm Instinct: Mysterious control resulting in desired results Regulation by a causation W hat is caused is not free W hat is caused is not responsible W hat is caused is not accountable The effect is certain Gen.9:2 ... Num.22:22,23 ... Job 35:10,11 .... Jon.1:17; 2:10 ... Mt.6:26; 8:20; 10:29; 26:74,75 ... Mk.5:11-13 M oral realm: Moral law: the description of things ought to occur in the moral realm Regulation by influence W hat is free is not caused W hat is free is responsible W hat is free is accountable The effect depends upon what a person chooses. Gen.3:11; 6:5; Dt.30:19; Josh.24:15; 1Kgs.18:21; Is.:19,20; 45:22; 66:3,4; Jer.18:5-10; 21:8; Ezk.20:7,8; Mt.23:37; Jn.1:11; 5:40; 7:16,17; Acts 7:51; Ro.2:5-11; 6:16; Ga.6:7,8; Rv.3:20