Theological Term of the Week

providence

The work of God  in which he actively preserves and directs all his creation and all his creatures so that his purpose for creation is  fulfilled.

• From the London Baptist Confession, 1689, Chapter 5:

  God the good Creator of all things, in his infinite power and wisdom doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, to the end for the which they were created, according unto his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will; to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy.

• From J. I. Packer, Concise Theology:
  

  If Creation was a unique exercise of divine energy causing the world to be, providence is a continued exercise of that same energy whereby the Creator, according to his own will, (a) keeps all creatures in being, (b) involves himself in all events, and (c) directs all things to their appointed end. The model is of purposive personal management with total “hands-on” control: God is completely in charge of his world. His hand may be hidden, but his rule is absolute.
  
  Some have restricted God’s providence to foreknowledge without control, or upholding without intervention, or general oversight without concern for details, but the testimony to providence as formulated above is overwhelming.
  
  The Bible clearly teaches God’s providential control (1) over the universe at large, Ps. 103:19; Dan. 4:35; Eph. 1:11; (2) over the physical world, Job 37; Pss. 104:14; 135:6; Matt. 5:45; (3) over the brute creation, Ps. 104:21, 28; Matt. 6:26; 10:29; (4) over the affairs of nations, Job 12:23; Pss. 22:28; 66:7; Acts 17:26; (5) over man’s birth and lot in life, 1 Sam. 16:1; Ps. 139:16; Isa. 45:5; Gal. 1:15-16; (6) over the outward successes and failures of men’s lives, Ps. 75:6, 7; Luke 1:52; (7) over things seemingly accidental or insignificant, Prov. 16:33; Matt. 10:30; (8) in the protection of the righteous, Pss. 4:8; 5:12; 63:8; 121:3; Rom. 8:28; (9) in supplying the wants of God’s people, Gen. 22:8, 14; Deut. 8:3; Phil. 4:19; (10) in giving answers to prayer, 1 Sam. 1:19; Isa. 20:5, 6; 2 Chron. 33:13; Ps. 65:2; Matt. 7:7; Luke 18:7, 8; and (11) in the exposure and punishment of the wicked, Pss. 7:12-13; 11:6. (L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 4th ed.)
  

• From Octavius Winslow, My Times in God’s Hands:

  Beloved, remember that all our past and all our coming prosperity, if indeed He shall so appoint it, is in the hand of God. It is His wisdom that suggests our plans, it is His power that guides, and it is His goodness that makes them successful.
  
  Every flower that blooms in our path, every smile that gladdens it, every mercy that bedews it, yes, “Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above…”
  
  Oh! for grace to recognize God in all our mercies!
  
  How much sweeter will be our sweets, how much more blessed our blessings, and endeared our endearments, to see them all dropping from the outstretched, munificent hand of a loving, gracious, and bountiful Father!
  
  Oh! for a heart lifted up in holy returns of love, gratitude and praise!

• A few applications of the doctrine of providence from God’s Glorious Providence:
  • It gives us “deep gratitude to God for all good things—including our love for Him and faith in Him—because all good things are from God.”
  • It “gives us patience and comfort, strength and hope through suffering and adversity.”
  • It “causes us to marvel at God’s great wisdom.
  • “It gives us deeper trust in God because He will accomplish all of His purposes.”
  • It gives us “confidence in prayer,” because “God can do what we ask.”
  • It keeps us from feeling “overwhelmed, because God is in control.”
  • “It gives us great courage and boldness through all things.”
  • “It shatters bitterness and complaining” and causes us to be content in our circumstances.

Learn more:

1. R. C. Sproul: What Is Providence?
2. Wayne Grudem: God’s Providence (pdf)
3. Louis Berkhof: Summary of Christian Doctrine, Chapter 10, Providence
   
4. James Montgomery Boice: God’s Providence
5. John Reisenger: The Sovereignty of God in Providence (mp3)

Related terms:

• creation ex nihilo
• decree(s) of God
• decretive will

Filed under God’s Nature and His Work

Have you come across a theological term that you don’t understand and that you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

 

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Theological Term of the Week

penal substitution

The teaching that in his death Christ substituted for sinners, atoning for them by bearing the just penalty of God for their sin in their place; also called substitutionary atonement or Christus Vicarious.

 

• From the Scots Confession by John Knox, chapter 9:
  

  [We confess t]hat our Lord Jesus offered himself a voluntary sacrifice unto his Father for us, that he suffered contradiction of sinners, that he was wounded and plagued for our transgressions, that he, the clean innocent Lamb of God, was condemned in the presence of an earthly judge, that we should be absolved before the judgment seat of our God; that he suffered not only the cruel death of the cross, which was accursed by the sentence of God; but also that he suffered for a season the wrath of his Father which sinners had deserved.

• From Herman Ridderbos in Paul: An Outline of His Theology, page 190:
  

  [T]he substitutionary character of Christ’s death on the cross … recurs time and again in Paul’s epistles, when it is said that Christ “died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:14); or “died for us” and “gave himself up for our sins” (Rom. 5:6, 8; 14:15; 1 Thess. 5:10; Rom. 4:25; 8:32; Gal. 1:4; 2:20). To be sure, the expression “for us” in itself does not yet signify “in our place; it indicates that the death of Christ has taken place “in our favor.” Nevertheless, the substitutionary significance of these expressions cannot be doubted. And it is corroborated by such expressions as that in 2 Corinthians 5:21: God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us; cf. Romans 8:3 and Galatians 3:13, where it is said that Christ has become a curse for us. In these passages the thought of the substitutionary (atoning) sacrifice is unmistakable, a thought that is enunciated in almost so many words when the phrase “One died for all’ is explained by the words “so then all have died’ (2 Cor. 5:14). Even is one could give certain passages taken by themselves another sense, the whole complex of the pronouncements mentioned above can allow no doubt to remains as to the “atoning,” substitutionary character of Jesus’ death, and every effort to detract from it readily does wrong to the most fundamental segments of Paul’s gospel.
  

• From Athanasius, On the Incarnation, Chapter 4:
  

  But beyond all this, there was a debt owing which must needs be paid; for, as I said before, all men were due to die. Here, then, is the second reason why the Word dwelt among us, namely that having proved His Godhead by His works, He might offer the sacrifice on behalf of all, surrendering His own temple to death in place of all, to settle man’s account with death and free him from the primal transgression.
  

Learn more

1. From Theopedia: The Penal Substitutionary Theory of the Atonement
2. Dr. Steve Sullivan:  Substitution (.pdf)
3. Al Mohler: Why Do They Hate It So? The Doctrine of Substitution (mp3 from this year’s Together for the Gospel Conference.)
4. D. A. Carson: Why Is the Doctrine of Penal Substitution Again Coming Under Attack?

Have you come across a theological term that you don’t understand and that you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

 

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order. 

Theological Term of the Week

definite atonement

The teaching that “God’s design and intent in sending Christ to die on the cross was to pay for the sins and secure the redemption of those whom God has predetermined to save…. Therefore the primary benefits of his death(especially as an atonement) were designed for and accrue only to believers”;¹ also called limited atonement or particular redemption.)²

• From scripture:
  

  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:32-34 ESV)

  Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:14-17 ESV)
  

• From the Canons of Dordt, the Second Main Point of Doctrine:

  Article 2: The Satisfaction Made by Christ
  
  Since, however, we ourselves cannot give this satisfaction or deliver ourselves from God’s anger, God in his boundless mercy has given us as a guarantee his only begotten Son, who was made to be sin and a curse for us, in our place, on the cross, in order that he might give satisfaction for us.
  
  Article 3: The Infinite Value of Christ’s Death
  
  This death of God’s Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world.

  Article 8: The Saving Effectiveness of Christ’s Death
  
  For it was the entirely free plan and very gracious will and intention of God the Father that the enlivening and saving effectiveness of his Son’s costly death should work itself out in all his chosen ones, in order that he might grant justifying faith to them only and thereby lead them without fail to salvation. In other words, it was God’s will that Christ through the blood of the cross (by which he confirmed the new covenant) should effectively redeem from every people, tribe, nation, and language all those and only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation and given to him by the Father; that he should grant them faith (which, like the Holy Spirit’s other saving gifts, he acquired for them by his death); that he should cleanse them by his blood from all their sins, both original and actual, whether committed before or after their coming to faith; that he should faithfully preserve them to the very end; and that he should finally present them to himself, a glorious people, without spot or wrinkle.
  
  Article 9: The Fulfillment of God’s Plan
  
  This plan, arising out of God’s eternal love for his chosen ones, from the beginning of the world to the present time has been powerfully carried out and will also be carried out in the future, the gates of hell seeking vainly to prevail against it. As a result the chosen are gathered into one, all in their own time, and there is always a church of believers founded on Christ’s blood, a church which steadfastly loves, persistently worships, and—here and in all eternity—praises him as her Savior who laid down his life for her on the cross, as a bridegroom for his bride.

• From the London Baptist Confession, 1689, Chapter 8:
  

  5. The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself, which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of God, procured reconciliation, and purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto Him….

  8. To all those for whom Christ hath obtained eternal redemption, he doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same, making intercession for them; uniting them to himself by his Spirit, revealing unto them, in and by his Word, the mystery of salvation, persuading them to believe and obey, governing their hearts by his Word and Spirit, and overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such manner and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation; and all of free and absolute grace, without any condition foreseen in them to procure it. 

Learn more:

1. Justin Taylor: A Primer on Limited (or Definite) Atonement
2. Phil Johnson: The Nature of the Atonement: Why and for Whom Did Christ Die?
3. Dan Phillips: Particular Redemption, Evangelism, and the Eternal Counsel of God
4. R. Scott Clark: Limited Atonement
5. Robert Reymond: Ten Lines of Evidence for the Doctrine of Particular Redemption
6. David Gibson and Jonathan Gibson: Mapping the Doctrine of Definite Atonement (Intro to From Heaven He Came and Sought Her)
7. John Piper: For Whom Did Christ Taste Death?(audio)
8. Thomas Schreiner: Particular Redemption (audio)

Related terms:

• substitutionary atonement
• total depravity
• unconditional election
• irresistible grace
• perseverance of the saints

¹This definition comes from Theopedia. I used it because I it was the best succinct definition I came across during my research, and anything I tried to come up with on my own was suspiciously like it.

² Definite atonement is definitely my preferred term.

 

Have you come across a theological term that you don’t understand and that you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.