Читать книгу Mathers Systematic Theology - Norman W. Mathers - Страница 35

The sovereignty of God means God is the supreme ruler. God is drawing the age to a close summing up and concluding all things in Christ (Eph. 1:10). All things are working according to His eternal decree (plan). The decree of God was formed based on the infinite sovereign mind and will (Eph. 1:11). God the Father is the sovereign ruler over creation because he created it all for the eternal son, Jesus Christ (Col. 1:18, Rev. 4:11). The eternal Son has the right to judge the earth because He redeemed (bought) men (Rev. 5:9). He was slain on the cross of Calvary (Acts 2:23, Rev. 13:8). His atoning death gives Christ the right to judge the earth (Rev. 5:9-14). The sovereign God of the heavens has done according to his good pleasure (Ps. 115:3). The prophecy of Daniel teaches the sovereign hand of God cannot be thwarted (Dan. 4:35). Jesus spoke of the Father as recorded in the gospel of Matthew (6:5-15). The Savior restated the Old Testament scriptures that the greatness, the power, the glory and majesty belong forever to the Father (1 Chr. 29:11) in Matthew 6:13 (Aland & Black 1968:18:4). This is variant reading number 4. The Father possesses the earth and all that is within it (Ps. 24:11). The Lord God Almighty owns all souls as recorded in the book of Ezekiel (Ezek. 18:4). The New Testament teaches that God is the creator of our soul (1 Pet. 4:19). The sovereign God has the right to do what He will with what is His (Matt. 20:15). God is the source, the agent and for whom all things were created, exist, and continue (Rom. 11:36).

The sovereignty of God is universal. It extends over all men both Christians and non Christians. His sovereignty is absolute. The sovereignty of God is unrestricted. The boundaries and span of time allotted to the nations is predetermined by God (Hodge 1975:1:440-441). The psalmist cries out that his times are predetermined by God (Ps. 31:15). The apostle Peter declares that God the Father repays each man according to the works of his hands (1 Pet. 1:17). Some are given light and saved. Others remain in the darkness and are lost. Why is this? God has done as it seems good in His sight. Jesus prayed in Matthew 11:25 thanking the Father that he had hidden these things from the wise and intelligent. He has revealed them unto the nepiois (unlearned) (ibid:441).

Men perish and are responsible for rejecting both natural light (truth) of Creation (Romans 1) and special light (revelation) (John 3:18). God is not willing that any should perish. A superficial reading of the Greek New Testament reads: “not willing any to perish but all to come to repentance” [author’s translation] (Aland & Black 1968:811). The negative me is used to introduce a question (Goetchius 1965:229-230). The kurios “not willing any to perish but all to come to repentance, isn’t he?” The Greek particle me affirms an answer in the negative. 2 Peter 3:7 confirms the fact that men do perish (Bigg 1975:290). To interpret 2 Peter 3:9 in any other way would be to open the door to universalism that all men will be saved. This question must be understood within the context of 2 Peter 3 and verse 15. The longsuffering of the Lord (Jesus) is because of salvation. The apostle Paul answers this question in Romans 9:15-16. God has the right to show mercy and the right to not show mercy. The apostle uses Pharoah as an example of one whom God raised up to declare his divine power and proclaim his name throughout the earth (Rom. 9:17) (Hodge 1972:221). God has the sovereign right as the Creator. Paul uses the illustration of the right of the potter over the clay (Rom. 9:20-24). To argue that there is a difference between what God has willed and his emotions (sensibility of God) may be an argument based on the wider context of the New Testament or speculative philosophical theology. In the immediate context of 2 Peter 3, the apostle is answering the question of why the Lord’s return has not happened. The answer is salvation. The longsuffering of the Lord waits for the last person to be saved (2 Pet. 3:15). The “not willing anyone perish and all to come to repentance” must be understood in the immediate context of those who are appointed to salvation. God determined the end from before the beginning (Eph. 1:3-14). Ryrie adds that without a doubt the Bible teaches God’s sovereignty. Ephesians 1 and Romans 9 confirm the biblical doctrine of a sovereign God (1974:25). This is a comforting doctrine to the Christian affirming that God is in control and his plans will be triumphant (ibid:25).

In analysis, the spirituality of God means God is spirit. He is in another realm with unlimited access to the material, space, and time world. The unity of God means that the one God exists in 3 persons (Matt. 28:19-20, John 14:16-17, 2 Cor. 13:14). Each member of the Godhead is God. The Father is God (John 6:27, Eph. 4:6). The eternal Son is God (Heb. 1:8). The spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4). Each member of the Godhead is co-equal, co-eternal, co-existence of one essence or substance, and indivisible. The early church councils confirmed the relationship of the eternal Son to the Father. Son is co-equal, co-eternal of same essence (substance) as Father and indivisible. This was decided by the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. This council confirmed the eternality of Christ and that He was of one substance with the Father. Council of Constantinople 381 A.D. affirmed the deity of Christ. The question of whether the Holy Spirit was God was raised. Council of Toledo in 589 A.D. confirmed the deity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is co-equal, co-eternal, co-existent, of one essence or substance and indivisible. They added the filoque clause that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Son as well as the Father. The incommunicable attributes of God are those that are only to be found in God. They are the infinity, eternity, and immutability of God. The infinity of God means that God is without any limitations. The eternity of God argues for the fact that God is free from succession of time (Gen. 21:33, Ps. 90:2). The immutability of God means that He does not change in his person, or attributes (James 1:17). The communicable attributes are omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, love (1 John 4:8), holy (1 Pet. 1:5), just (Rom. 3:21-26), true (Rom. 3:4, John 14:6), and freedom (Is. 40:13-14). The Sovereignty of God means that God is the supreme ruler (Eph. 1:10-11). The Father is the sovereign ruler over creation because He created it for the eternal Son (Col. 1:18, Rev. 4:11). The eternal Son, Jesus Christ, has the right to judge the earth because He was slain and redeemed men (Acts 2:23, Rev. 13:8). Sovereignty of God extends over all men. The Sovereign God intervenes supernaturally in the affairs of men (Dan. 4:35).