Back to the 1689 Confession

Divine Providence

--> God the good Creator of all things, in His infinite power and wisdom, upholds, directs, disposes and governs all creatures and things, from the greatest to the least, by His most wise and holy providence, to the end for which they were created.

• God governs according to His infallible foreknowledge and the free and unchanging counsel of His own will;
• for the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, boundless goodness, and mercy.

--> Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, Who is the First Cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly; so that nothing happens to anyone by chance, or outside His providence, yet by His providence He orders events to occur according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.

--> God, in His ordinary providence makes use of means, yet He is free to work outside, above, and against them at His pleasure.

--> The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence, that His determinate counsel extends even to the first fall, and all other sinful actions of both angels and men.

• This is not merely by a bare permission, but by a form of permission in which He included the most wise and powerful limitations, and other means of restricting and controlling sin. These various limitations have been designed by God to bring about his most holy purposes.
• Yet, in all these affairs, the sinfulness of both angels and men comes only from them and not from God, Who is altogether holy and righteous, and can never be the author or approver of sin.

--> The most wise, righteous, and gracious God often leaves, for a time, His own children to various temptations, and to the corruptions of their own hearts, in order to chastise them for the sins which they have committed, or to show them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness still in their hearts, so that they may be humbled and aroused to a more close and constant dependence upon Himself for their support, and that they may be made more watchful against future occasions of sin. Other just and holy objectives are also served by such action by God. Therefore whatever happens to any of His select is by His appointment, for His glory, and for their good.

--> As for those wicked and ungodly men whom God as a righteous judge, blinds and hardens for former sin, from them He not only withholds His grace, by which they might have been enlightened in their understanding and affected in their hearts, but sometimes He also withdraws the gifts which they had and exposes them to certain objects which their corrupt state will make the occasion of sin.

• God gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan, so that eventually they harden themselves under the same influences which God uses for the softening of others.

--> As the providence of God in general reaches to all creatures, so, in a more special manner, it takes care of His church, and governs all things to the good of His church.

There is much theology in this section. Whole books could be written on this, and in fact many have. As I read through it, the first paragraph bullet point that says “for the praise of His glory...” reminds me of the beginning section of our Gospel presentation. Ephesians 1:3-14 (one long sentence in the Greek) says this three times. I love how the statement attaches the glory of God to wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy. It brings several of God’s attributes together with His glory.

The next two sections are an attempt to address the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. A.W. Pink says that there is a difficulty in determining exactly where one ends and the other begins. He also points out that the responsibility of man is born out of the sovereignty of God. There is most certainly a difficulty in reconciling the fact that God is sovereignly in charge of everything, yet man is also responsible for his actions. We are not robots or puppets. How this all works, I don’t know.

What I do know is this:

• God is sovereign. Nothing can stay His hand.

• I am responsible for my actions.

I am responsible to make every effort be obedient to Scripture.

The last six words are the most comforting of this entire section. Whatever we come to understand about the sovereignty and providence of God, we should always remember this - it is all “to the good of His church.” The church, God’s chosen people, are the ones that He has chosen to set His special love upon. He not only knew us before the foundation of the world and sent His son to die specifically for us, but all that He does is ultimately “to the good of His church.”