Locus 2 — Creation
expression about God, "He gives life to all things."
The human mind is convinced by demonstrations and proofs to confess that this world has been created by God. But that God is present as the ruler and guide, even though there are very strong arguments for this statement, such as the punishment for especially wicked crimes, this point is less accepted. Thus it is more difficult, even though our faith is aroused and strengthened in our hearts by the testimonies of God's
Word, for us to agree to pray to God and seriously ask things of Him or expect good things from Him as He commands, saying, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you" [Ps. 50:15], or again, "Commit your way unto the Lord and He will accomplish it" [Ps.
37:5], And after the intention of God jias been estab lished and the true and correct understanding con cerning God, creation, the presence of God among His creatures, and His mitigating of secondary causes has been confirmed by the Word of God and clear testi monies by which God has revealed Himself to the hu man race, as in the exodus of the people from Egypt, the raising of the dead, and other miracles performed by the prophets, Christ, and the apostles, then it is also useful and beneficial to see how the created world works and to seek in it the signs of God and to gather together proofs which testify that this world does not exist by accident, nor was it willed by accident but that God is an eternal mind, the Creator of all things. Thus all nature is established to show forth God. And if the minds of men had retained their first light, this knowl edge concerning God would have been much clearer.
But now many doubts are raised. However, it is useful for reverent minds to cling to these proofs which show that there is a God; just as Paul leads us to look at the creation of the world in Rom. 1 [:20]. And in Acts [17:27]
Paul says that God is so near that He can almost be touched by our hands. Thus I shall mention briefly just a few proofs, for thinking about them is useful for con firming correct ideas in our minds.
1 Tim. 4:10, "We hope in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of them who believe," that is, He gives blessing to all, protecting our life, causing the fruit to grow, preserving the human race. He does this in order to gather His church, and especially to aid it. And in the church He not only nourishes our bodies but bestows even greater eternal blessings. Cf. 1 Tim.
6:17; Matt. 10:29-30; Ps. 104:27-30; 145:15-16; 33:13, 15; 147:8; 36:6. Many special promises have been made to the church concerning its life, by reason of His sustenance and protection of the body, and these promises testify that God is present with His creatures to sustain us and mitigate the accidents of nature, Ps.
33:18-19; 34:10; 37:19; Hos. 2:8-9. The same verses teach blessings and judgments. Cf. Deut. 28:11; 30:20;
Prov. 3:33; 10:22. Ps. 127:1, "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." Here he clearly affirms that secondary causes are vain unless they are aided by God. Ps. 100:3, "Know that the Lord, He is
God; it is He who has made us and not we ourselves.
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture," that is, we are not born by accident, nor do we live only under secondary causes, by our own thoughts and powers, but we live with God, who gives us life and preserves us.
Finally, the Lord's Prayer teaches us the same thing when it commands us to seek our daily bread from God. Thereby we are confessing that God be stows our food upon us and that the earth does not yield her increase unless God makes it happen.
I have gathered together a small collection of per tinent testimonies which describe the article of creation and affirm that God is present with His creatures as our sustainer and ruler; and these passages refute the Ep icureans and the Stoics. For because God has prom ised good things to the faithful and to those who ask for His blessings, and because He threatens the un godly with punishments, it is an established fact that He acts in freedom and is not bound to secondary causes, but rather softens many obstacles for the sake of the faithful and makes many situations worse be cause of the ungodly. There are many examples of this.
Because of Ahab's practice of idolatry it did not rain for three years in his reign, but the rains returned when
Elijah prayed.
First, let us look at the order of nature itself, that is, at those results which point out the Creator. It is impossible that the permanent order in nature came into being by chance and remains by mere accident, or that it only arose out of raw matter. But the categories in nature were placed in a particular order, and just as a human being comes from a human being, and cattle are born of cattle, so also there remains a changeless order for the movement of heavenly bodies, the fertility of the earth, the constant flow of the rivers, and the knowledge of nature in the minds of men. Thus nature does not exist by accident but it has come forth from some mind which understands order.
This kind of testimony should strengthen our de sire to pray. For we cannot ask God for food and pro tection for our lives if we are bewitched by the opinions of the Stoics and the Epicureans and believe that all things happen either by chance or that God does noth ing to set bounds to secondary causes. Thus God will take His fruit away from men if they think that these blessings are produced only by some natural power, or that it is not God who nourishes them, or if they do not reverently use the gift when it is given to them, or do not honor the Giver, as Hosea warns in his statement which I have cited above.
Second, there is proof in the nature of the human mind. An intelligent nature is not derived from a brutish thing. But the minds of men do have some cause, be cause man certainly does not have it in himself, but the mind of man has its origin from somewhere else. There fore there must be some intelligent nature as the cause
Eighth, the proof from the final causes or pur poses. All things in nature are established for certain uses. It is impossible that this division of purposes ei ther exists by accident or remains by accident, but of necessity it must have come into being by the plan of an Architect. of the human mind. Thus there must be a God.
Third, we have proof from the difference between the noble and the base, and from other signs, orders, and numbers in nature. It is impossible to believe that the distinction between the honorable and the shameful aspects in the human mind exist only by accident or have a purely material origin, or that the indication of order and numbers are only fortuitous. Thus there must be some mind of a grand architect. And these two points are the clearest of all. Moreover, it is worth consider ation to remember that the human mind and this light which is planted in the mind are a special testimony concerning God in nature. And among these signs in nature there is also the sign that there is a God, as Paul says [in Rom. 1:19-20], "God revealed Himself to them," that is, God placed into the mind of man the knowledge that there is a God and also placed there the ability to draw conclusions from the effects of His actions.
Ninth, it is proved by things which show the meaning of future events. Future events can be dem onstrated with certainty, not only the omens which the pagans study, which have varying kinds of causes, but much more the gift of prophecy which is used in the church by people such as Balaam, Elijah, Jeremiah, or Daniel, who predicted changes and successions in the reigns of kings. Thus there must be some Mind which sees ahead to these changes and shows them beforehand.
These arguments not only bear witness that there is a God, but they are also indications of the providence with which God looks upon men, punishes wicked crimes, and blesses some people so that the fertility of the earth demonstrates that God is concerned with the life of men. The punishment of crimes shows that God demands that we seek righteousness as does the preaching concerning His commands. Likewise, the fact that great men are sent to establish government and human industry shows that God is concerned about our life together as human beings here on earth. These are important points which always influence the minds of good people.
Fourth, the signs in nature are true. There is a God, as all by nature confess. Therefore this knowledge of Him is correct. This insufficient knowledge would be clearer if our nature had not been corrupted, and it must be strengthened by the other arguments we have mentioned.
Fifth, in Xenophon proof is given by the terrors of man's conscience. It is evident that murderers and others who have committed great crimes suffer horrible torments of the mind, even if no human judgments threaten them. Therefore there is some Mind which has placed this judgment in our hearts which approves good deeds and disapproves evil ones.
Many other proofs could certainly be suggested, but because they are less clear, I will stop at this point.
The knowledge of the Law, by which God wills to be worshiped, has not been ingrafted into man in vain. But Sixth, it is proved by the order of society. The political order of society is not some mere fortuitous coming together of people, but the multitude gathers together with a definite order and an orderly legal sys tem. Nor can this order be sustained only by human effort, but experience shows that those who violate this order, such as those who commit murder, incest, and tyranny, are delivered over to punishment by some di vine force. Therefore there is some eternal Mind which gives to men an understanding of order, so that they strive to develop a political society. Likewise they then preserve and defend it with their resources. it would have been implanted in vain if there had not also been given the ability to judge between good and evil. But these points must be explained later on. We must return to the first warning, namely, we must zeal ously with minds and eyes keep our attention on those particular passages in which God has revealed Himself to His church, as in His leading the people of Israel from Egypt, in the raising of the dead, and other mir acles which were done through the prophets, Christ
Himself, and the apostles. And then we must add the Word which has been handed down through them and determine that this is truly the will of God, which is set forth in this Word, and we must distinguish philosophy or natural knowledge from the Gospel, that is, from the promise of the free forgiveness of sins which is given for the sake of the Son of God, as is said under the locus of the difference between the Law and the Gospel.
Seventh, there is the sophisticated proof derived from a series of efficient causes. There is no progres sion into infinity in the case of efficient causes. Thus it is necessary to remain in the one first cause. Scientists explain this thought with great brilliance. For if there were a progression into infinity, there would be no order of causes and thus no causes would of necessity con nect together.
Locus 3 The Cause of Sin and Concerning Contingency timonies which have been divinely handed down con cerning this matter, even if we cannot reply to all the subtlties raised in opposition. The testimonies are these:
Wise men have always marveled at the fact that although there is a high degree of order in nature in many respects, yet in the human race there is great confusion brought about by crime, calamity, disease, and death. The philosophers put the causes for this partly in matter and partly in the human will, and a part they lay at the door of fate, which they said was a necessary connection between the first cause and all secondary causes related both to material things and to the will. The Manichaeans, who arose out of a corrupt philosophy, stirred up horrible conflicts, shameful to God and damaging to morals, pertaining to such things as necessity and two gods, one good and one evil. The church of antiquity was shattered concerning the ques tion of contingency and the cause of evil. It is the duty of pious minds to think and speak reverently about God, to retain statements which are true, godly, honorable and which have been approved by the earnest judg ments of godly men in the church and which are also useful to morals. But they do this not out of mere cu riosity or love of argumentation, which only leads to unending labyrinths of debate.
1. Gen. 1:31, "God saw all which He had made and it was very good," that is, pleasing to God, laid out in an orderly manner and completely in keeping with the divine mind, and established for definite future uses for mankind. Ps. 5:4, "You are not a God who takes pleasure in iniquity," that is, [You are] a God who truly and without pretense hates sin. John 8:44, "When the devil speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of lying," that is, the primary source and cause of lying. Furthermore, Christ distinguishes be tween the lie and the liar, as if He were saying, "To be sure the devil has received his substance [or being] from outside himself, for all the angels were created by God, of whom some later fell." But the devil has some thing uniquely his own, which he did not receive from God, namely, his lying, that is, his sin which the devil's own free will spawned. As we shall explain later on at greater length, the substances of the devil and of man were created and sustained by God and yet the will of the devil and the will of man are the causes of sins.
We must cling to this true and godly teaching with both hands and more importantly with our whole heart, that God is not the cause of sin nor does He will sin, nor drive our wills into sin or the approval of sin. But He is truly and frightfully angry with sin, as He declares so often in His Word with examples of severe punish ments, with threats of eternal wrath, and with calamities that befall the world. Indeed, the Son of God showed
His anger against sin to the greatest possible extent when He came to be made the sacrifice for sin, dem onstrated that the devil is the author of sin, and by His death satisfied the enormous wrath of God.
For the will could abuse its own liberty and turn itself from God.
2. Zech. 8:17, " 'Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts and love no false oath. For all these are things which I hate,' says the Lord." Thus, since this hatred of sin in the divine will is absolutely real, we must never think that God wills sin.
3. 1 John 2:16, "The concupiscence of the flesh is not of the Father, but of the world." 1 John 3:8, "He who commits sin is of the devil, for the devil sins from the beginning," that is, the primary author of sin is the devil. Rom. 5:12, "Through man sin entered into the world," that is, sin is not a thing established by God, but man with his own liberty turned himself away from God and discarded the gifts of God and left destruction as the inheritance for his posterity.
Thus God is not the cause of sin, nor is sin some thing which was created or ordained by God; but it is a terrible destruction of both the divine order and the divine work.
These are the causes of sin: the will of the devil and the will of man which turn themselves freely and of their own accord away from God, although He neither wills nor approves this turning away; and they cling in their disorderly wandering to behavior which is against the command of God, as the will of Eve turned itself away from the voice of God and, wandering outside of His order, clung to the fruit.
The figures of speech in the Hebrew language do not conflict with the statements I have just cited, for example, "I will harden the heart of Pharaoh," Ex. 7:3.
For it is certain that in the Hebrew expression He is referring to the promise of these things, not to His ef fectual will, as in the expression, "Lead us not into temptation," which means, do not allow us to be led astray, do not allow us to fall or to rush into temptation.
Although crafty men have gathered together many inextricable arguments relating to this matter, yet we should lay aside all the tricks of argumentation and embrace and hold fast to the true teaching, which I have enunciated with my whole heart, and cling to the tes
Furthermore, -earnest people must be warned concerning what sin really is, so that they can distin guish a thing established by God from sin, which is a