3. The Wisdom of God. (Sapientia Dei.)
Scripture distinguishes knowledge and wisdom in God, Rom. 11:33: ώ βάϑος πλούτου καί σοφίας γνώσεως ϑεον). It is not well to say that here wisdom and knowledge are one and the same. Admittedly, it must also be stated here that in God all attributes are an indiscriminate unity, because all divine attributes are not parts or matters in God, but the one indivisible essence of God Himself. But because this indiscriminate unity is beyond our human comprehension, and because God Himself presents Himself to us in various attributes in His Word, we cannot but also distinguish between God's wisdom and knowledge, especially since at this point the καί-καί σοφία and γνώσις are both coordinated and distinguished.1405) Similarly, indeed, in the description of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor. 12:8, the λόγος σοφίας and the λόγος γνώσεως are distinguished as distinct in concept. By the word wisdom we think of knowledgeable cognition and action. This is how the word is used in Scripture. When Solomon wanted to build the temple and needed knowledgeable people to do it, he asked Hiram of Tyre, "So send me a wise Mann (אישחכם [HEBREW]) to work with gold, silver, brass, ... and who will know how to dig out with the wise men who are with me in Judah and Jerusalem." Thus Scripture also ascribes wisdom to God a. in regard to God's doing in the realm of nature whether the works of creation, Ps. 104:24: "Thou hast made them all in wisdom (בְּחָכְמָ֣ה [HEBREW])])"; b. in regard to God's counsel and doing in the realm of grace. Thus 1 Cor. 2:6 ff. especially the gospel of Christ crucified is called σοφία ϑεον, which even the rulers of this world have not known, but which God has decreed before the world for our glory. Since now the Scripture still very strongly emphasizes that God is μόνος σοφός, wise alone,1406) to him a depth of wisdom unfathomable to us men,1407) thus is
1405) Against Tholuck in the commentary on this passage.
1406) 1 Tim. 1:17; Rom. 16:27.<w:t>1407) Rom. 11:33.
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the usus practicus, that is, the consideration of God's wisdom, is very important for us. We men should admire and praise God's wisdom, not criticize it. We men, according to our natural God-estranged nature, are only too inclined to criticize God and all His works, and thus to place human wisdom above God's wisdom. Criticizing God has come to dominate in modern theology. Modern theologians criticize God primarily in two ways: a. by claiming of God's Word, the Holy Scriptures, that it is not truth but can be broken, b. by calling the divine method of redemption through the vicarious satisfaction of Christ (satisfactio Christi vicaria) too external, juridical, unethical, and harmful to virtue."1408) But in all Christians there still remains the tendency to criticize God, in that they often think, according to their flesh, that things are not right in the world. On the other hand, it stands unalterably from Scripture that things are always right in the world in every respect, not only as a whole but also in every detail. For everything that happens in the world remains in and under the expert hand of God (חָכְמַ֧ת [HEBREW: see 1 Kings 3:28], σοφία ϑεον). This also includes all the punishments that God causes to come upon men after the Fall, including wars, dear times, earthquakes, floods of water, etc.1409) All these punishments stand in the service of God's will of grace, which wants to lead men to repentance and faith in the Gospel, as Christ teaches us so emphatically on the occasion of concrete misfortunes. 1410)
"Knowledge" and "wisdom" ^ are conceived by us as attributes of understanding. Thus Scripture expressly attributes understanding, νους, to God, Rom. 11:34: τις εγνω νουν κυρίου; and names σοφία and γνώσις as belonging to the νους κυρίου. But Scripture also explicitly addresses a will of God. Thus 1 Tim. 2:4: πάντας ανθρώπους ϑέλει σωϑήναι. Jn. 6:40: "This is the will (ϑέλημα) of him who sent me, that whoever stands and believes in the Son may have eternal life." 1 Thess. 4:3: "This is the will (ϑέλημα) of God, your sanctification."
Before we describe the individual attributes that are to be understood as attributes
1408) Cf. vol. II, 429 ff, under the section: "More detailed description of modern theories of reconciliation."
1409) Gen. 3:16 ff; Matt. 24:1 ff.<w:t xml:space="preserve"> 1410) Luke 13:1 ff.
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of God's will, a double question regarding God's will may be pointed out: 1) What stands in relation to the causes (causae) of the divine will? 2. what is to be thought of the divisions of the will of God?
What is to be said about causae voluntatis divinas may be summarized thus: a. Scripture describes God to us in His majesty, that is, as independent of all things apart from Him, that is, as unconditional or absolute, Rom. 11:36: έξ αντον και δι’ αντον και εις αντον τά πάντα. In this relation, there is not cause and effect as two distinct things in God and in relation to God. Dogmatists express it thus: Non sunt in Deo causae formaliter causantess [“There are no formal causes in God”]. b. Because God in His majesty or as the absolute God is totally incomprehensible to us men, the Scriptures guide us and thus require us to distinguish cause and effect in God. According to Scripture, we humans must imagine God in such a way that, for example, God's wrath is caused by man's sin, Jer. 2:19: "It is the fault of your wickedness that you are thus beaten, and of your disobedience that you are thus rebuke." God's righteousness, on the other hand, is based on Christ's merit, Rom. 3:24: "We are justified without merit by His grace" διά τής άπολντρώσεως τής εν Χριστώ Ίησον. Dogmatists express it this way: In Deo sunt causae virtualiter causantes [“In God there are virtually causing causes”]. One may not find the dogmatic expressions very significant, but the matter is scriptural. 1411)
As far as the divisions of the divine will are concerned, it has to be remembered again that they have their reason in the limited human comprehension. In God the will is one and identical with God's essence. But according to God's self-revelation in His Word of God, we can distinguish:
1. God's first and second will (voluntas prima or antecedens and voluntas secunda or consequens). According to John 3:17, we must first imagine God clearly and determinedly as not wanting to condemn a single man, because He did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Then we are to imagine God clearly and definitely as condemning all who do not accept Christ, the Savior of sinners,
1411) A further elaboration on this point against more recent theologians who protest against a "Reorganization of God" is found in Vol. II, 438, note 1041.
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because in the immediately following verse (v. 18) He says: "He who does not believe in the Son is already judged." The distinction between a first and second will in God has been misused in the interest of synergism from Chrysostom to our time,1412) but it is founded in Scripture. It must be held against Calvinism, which from the outset makes God's will twofold in relation to the world of sin.
2. God's irresistible and resistible will (voluntas irresistibilis and voluntas resistibilis). No one can resist the will according to which Christ will gather all nations before his face on the Last Day. Behind this will stands a "must".1413) The will, on the other hand, according to which Christ wants to gather men to Himself here in the world through the sermon of the Gospel and through the effect of faith, can be resisted. Matt. 23:37: "I have willed to gather you together, ... and ye would not." This distinction of God's will has also been misused in the past and especially in our time in the interest of synergism, by inferring from the posse resistere [“to be able to resist”] to a posse assentiri [“to be able to agree”] (facultas se applicandi ad gratiam [“the ability to apply oneself to grace”], self-determination, self-decision, etc.). But the division itself, as is clear from the scriptural words cited, is entirely scriptural.1414)
God wills without means and through means (voluntas absoluta and voluntas ordinata). At the wedding at Cana Christ works wine without the usual means by which wine is made, Jn. 2:1-11. In reserve cases God also works without means in the kingdom of grace, as can be seen in Luke 1:15 (John was already filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb). On the other hand, it is God's order to which He has bound us men that He works faith, preservation in faith, sanctification, etc.-only through the means of grace He has ordered (Word of God and the sacraments).1415) Enthusiasm in its manifold forms is a perversion of the divine order, and the calling in Luke 1:15 is an abuse of this passage.
1412) This is further explained in Vol. II, p. 38 ff.
1413) Jn. 5:28; Matt. 25:31 ff; 2 Cor. 5:10 (δει).
1414) The further exposition vol. II, 557 f. 569 ff.
1415) Rom. 10:17; Tit. 3:5; 1 Petr. 1:23 ff; Mark. 16:15; Matt. 28:19-20 etc.
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4. God wants unconditionally through human performance and conditionally through human performance (voluntas gratiae and voluntas conditionata). God wants the salvation of men absolutely through human performance."1416) All those who want to insert a human performance here attain the curse, Gal. 3:10. But whoever wants to be saved by the way of the law, should not forget that God's will of the law is conditioned by a perfect fulfillment of the law; the man who does it will live by it.1417)
5. God's will is revealed and unrevealed in God's Word (voluntas revelata and voluntas abscondita or voluntas signi and voluntas beneplaciti). Christians know God's will; they know what is given them by God, judge all things, know Christ's mind (νοῦν Χριστοῦ εχονσιν), 1 Cor. 2:12, 15-16. In contrast, Rom. 11:33-34: No one has known the Lord's mind. In the question of their salvation, men are to be referred only to the will of God revealed in Christ. This is taught in all passages of Scripture where God can only be known and wants to be known in Christ, Jn. 1:18; Matt. 17:5; Jn. 6:40. But Christ invites all men to receive salvation from Him, Matt. 11:28.1418) One has addressed an act of violence,1419) when Luther on the one hand distinguishes between the revealed and the hidden will of God, and on the other hand expects men to completely ignore the hidden will in the question of salvation and to only adhere to the revealed will. On the other hand, it must be said that not only Luther, but the Holy Scriptures teach this distinction (1 Cor. 2:12, 16:16; Rom. 11:33-34), and not only Luther, but the Holy Scriptures already turn our eyes away from the hidden will by calling it inscrutable, Rom. 11:33: ὡς ἀνεξεραύνητα τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ.
The attributes of God's will are understood to be God's holiness, righteousness, truthfulness, power, goodness, mercy, love, grace and longsuffering.
1416) Rom. 3:28 (χωρίς έργων νόμον); Eph. 2:10 (τή γάρ χάριτί εστε σεσωσμένοι); Rom. 11:6 (εί δε χάριτι, ονκέτι εξ έργων).
1417) Gal. 2:12; 3:10 etc.,
1418) The more detailed explanation Vol. II, 42 ff.
1419) So also Karl Hase, Ev. Dogmatik 3, p. 295.
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a. The Holiness of God. (Sanctitas Dei.) ^
God's holiness first denotes God's majesty, according to which God is exalted above all created things. Thus in the "thrice holy", Is. 6:3: קָד֧וֹשׁ ׀ קָד֛וֹשׁ קָד֖וֹשׁ יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת [HEBREW] where by the קָד֖וֹשׁ [HEBREW] God is described as the set apart One, who indeed pervades and fills all things, but yet remains exalted above all created things, who sits on a high and lofty throne (כִּסֵּ֖א [HEBREW]) and before whom the seraphim cover their faces and feet. In the New Testament the קָד֖וֹשׁ [HEBREW] is rendered δόξα ϑeov, John 12:41: "Such things said Isaiah, when he saw his glory, and spake of him." Taken in this sense, the holiness of God comprehends all the other attributes of God in itself1420) and "the Holy One of Israel" stands in factual parallelism with the "God of Israel" as the one true God apart from whom there is no other, Ps. 71:22: "I thank thee, my God; ... I praise thee, thou Holy One of Israel." The holiness of God then also specifically grasps in itself the contrast to the sin of man, 1 Petr. 1:16: "You shall be holy, for I am holy" (quoting from Deut. 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7 etc.).1421) This contrast of God's holiness to man's sin is also expressed in Is. 6 when the prophet is reminded of his own and the people's sin upon beholding the glory of God, v. 5: "Then said I, Woe is me, I perish; for I am of unclean lips, and dwell among a people of unclean lips!" — The usus practicus of God's holiness revealed to us is that on the one hand we approach God with great reverence,1422) yet on the other hand we approach Him with great joy and confidence because we are reconciled to Him through the death of His Son and have peace with Him through faith in Christ's satisfactio vicaria.1423)
b. The Righteousness of God. (Iustitia Dei) ^
The Scripture attributes righteousness to God and negates injustice in relation to Him, Ps. 92:16 [15], "Righteous is God, my rock, and there is no injustice in him" (יָשָׁ֣ר יְהוָ֑ה צ֝וּרִ֗י וְֽלֹא־עֹלָתָה בּֽוֹ׃ [HEBREW]). Even more
1420) So correctly also in Nitzsch-Stephan, p. 399.
1421) What more recent theologians have said about the holiness of God can be found compiled and evaluated in Eduard König, Theologie des Alten Testaments, kritisch und vergleichend zusammengestellt. 1922, p. 171 ff.
1422) Gen. 18:27 etc. 1423) Rom. 5:1 ff; 5:10; Eph. 3:11, 12.
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the justice predicates are clustered Deut. 32:4: הַצּוּר֙ תָּמִ֣ים פָּעֳלֹ֔ו כִּ֥י כָל-דְּרָכָ֖יו מִשְׁפָּ֑ט אֵ֤ל אֱמוּנָה֙ וְאֵ֣ין עָ֔וֶל צַדִּ֥יק וְיָשָׁ֖ר הֽוּא׃ [HEBREW — out of order], In regard to the righteousness of God, there is a special difficulty for our human imagination. Men are justified, if they correspond to the divine standard standing above them. Above God, however, is no one and nothing. Therefore we must say: Deus iustus est, quia omnia suae legi conformiter vult atque facit [“God is just, because he wills and does everything according to his law.”]. Rightly scholastics have said of God, and Luther repeats this, that God is "exlex" [outside the law]. Luther: "God issues the law, but he does not take it up again." 1424)
The righteousness of God, in relation to men, is a. iustitia legalis; that is, the righteousness of God revealed in the law of God; b. iustitia evangelica; that is, the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel. The iustitia legalis is legislatoria, inasmuch as it is for men the norm of their being and acting, and requires of men conformity to this norm, Matt. 22:34. This iustitia is then further remuneratoria, insofar as it rewards the good, and vindicativa (punitiva, ultrix), insofar as it rebukes the evil, 2 Thess. 1:4-10. — The iustitia evangelica is the opposite of the iustitia legalis and consists in the fact that God, forsaking his iustitia legalis, χωρίς νόμου, declares sinners justified by forgiving their sins out of grace for the sake of Christ's righteousness, Rom. 3:21-22: χωρίς νόμου δικαιοσύνη ϑεού πεφανέρωται, δικαιοσύνη δε ϑεον διά πίστεως Ιησού Χριστού.
1424) Cf. Luther's sermon on Ex. 9:16, St. L. XII, 811 ff. [sic St. L. III, 811 f. not XII ] Here Luther states that everyone loses God, cancels the concept of God, makes an idol out of God, which puts him under the "general idea of the good", as it was spoken in modern times. Rather, it is to say that the idea of the good sees under God. A few sentences from Luther's sermon may be quoted here: "Man is called pious when he acts and lives according to the law. With God it is even reversed; a work is called good because God does it." "This you must leave out of your head, if you want to give up the address of God, that you give no law or measure to God; for he is not a creature, he is immeasurable. A measure is set for man; I shall do so and so. ... Since thou also wouldest deal thus with God, thou hast erred from God." "God has no measure, law or purpose, as I said, therefore He cannot do contrary to it, He cannot sin against law, because none is presented to Him." Prov. 16:4: "The Lord does all things for His own sake," לַֽמַּעֲנֵ֑הוּ [HEBREW]. By the way, exlex is not "church Latin", but belongs to the "classical" usage, as everyone can convince himself from the larger Latin Lexicon.
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The salvation of men is based on the iustitia evangelica, and the essence of Christianity is faith in this iustitia evangelica. To the question: Does God adequately punish sin according to his iustitia vindicativa? the answer of Scripture is: Yes! Gal. 3:13; Jn. 3:36 etc. From the passages cited it is clear that Christ was adequately punished in the place of man, and that everyone who does not accept the punishment paid by Christ must eternally pay himself.
c. The Truthfulness of God. (Veracitas Dei.) ^
God is little believed by men, and this unbelief is shown both to God's threats in the law and to God's promises in the gospel. Regarding the threats of the law it is said in Ps. 90:11: "But who believes that you are so angry?" and regarding the promises of the gospel Is. 53:1 and Jn. 12:38: "Who believes our sermon?" Because God wants men to believe Him in order to save them from eternal damnation, He condescends in His Word to the assurance that, unlike men who are liars, He is true and does not lie, Rom. 3:4: ὁ Θεὸς ἀληθής, πᾶς δὲ ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης. Scripture gives a bad report to all men without exception in regard to their truthfulness. It does call individual peoples and persons paragons in lying, e.g. the Cretans, Tit. 1:12, but that the whole human race is no better at the bottom of the natural heart, Christ Himself says Matt. 16:19, when among the things that proceed from the human heart (Εκ τής καρδίας Εξέρχονται) he mentions also ψενδομαρτνρίαι and βλααφημίαι; hence Ps. 116:11: "All men are liars." To this general human deceitfulness Scripture powerfully and often contrasts the absolute truthfulness of God, Tit. 1:2: ὁ άψευδής ϑεός; Jn. 3:33: ὁ Θεὸς ἀληθής; Hebr. 6:18: ἀδύνατον ψεύσασθαι Θεόν. Cf. 1 Sam. 15:29: לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר וְלֹ֣א יִנָּחֵ֑ם [HEBREW], Lev. 23:19: לֹ֣א אִ֥ישׁ אֵל֙ וִֽיכַזֵּ֔ב וּבֶן־אָדָ֖ם וְיִתְנֶחָ֑ם [HEBREW]. Matt. 24:35: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away"; Jn. 10:35: "The Scriptures cannot be broken." Usus practicus: the absolute truthfulness of God in his wrath and in his grace should startle men both from their security (Gal. 6:7: "Do not be deceived, God does not allow himself to be
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mocked!") as well as to provoke faith in God's promises of grace (Rom. 10:11: "He who believes in me will not be put to shame"; Tit. 1:2: "Eternal life has promised ό άψενδής ϑεός).
d. The Power of God, (Potentia Dei.) ^
God's power differs from the power of creatures by the manner and by the extent of its working. Regarding the manner we have to say: Deus producit volendo [“God produces by willing”].1425) Example Gen. 1:3: "Let there be light! And there was light." Deus creat per יְהִ֣י [HEBREW]. God's will is God's power. Ps. 115:3: "Our God is in heaven; all that He wills He makes" (כֹּ֭ל אֲשֶׁר־חָפֵ֣ץ עָשָֽׂה [HEBREW]). With regard to the circumambulation of power, Matt. 19:26: παρὰ θεῷ πάντα δυνατά ἐστιν and Luke 1:37: οὐκ ἀδυνατήσει παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πᾶν ῥῆμα (omnipotentia Dei). We are therefore not to address God as if God had exhausted Himself in what was actually created and could not create any more (pantheists, pantheizing theologians, and rationalists). — On the other hand it is to be remembered also with the quality of the omnipotence of God that we men may not allow ourselves from the same any conclusions on God's real doing. What God really wants to do according to His omnipotence, we must learn from God's revealed Word. We must not allow ourselves to say, Because God is omnipotent, he forgives sin without Christ's satisfactio vicaria; for according to his revelation in the Word he forgives sin διὰ τῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ (Rom. 3:24). — What God wills He works in two ways: either by means ordered by Himself (causae secundae), or without the same. In the former case we speak of ordered power (potentia ordinata), in the latter of absolute power (potentia absoluta, immediata). Here, however, it is to be noted that in both cases the one almighty power of God is operative; e.g., that God sustains men by food in the order of nature is no less a work of divine omnipotence than when God sustained Moses for forty days without food or drink, Ex. 34:28. "Thou feedest us from year to year."1426)
If God works what he usually does by causae secundae even without them, we speak of miracles on the basis of Scripture, John 2:11: οημεΐα; Acts 2:43: τέρατα και σημεία.
1425) So correctly also in Nitzsch-Stephan, p. 456.
1426) St. L. hymnal, hymn 339, 8.
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With regard to miracles we have to note two things: 1. God can turn the potentia ordinata into a potentia absoluta at any time, that is, what he usually works through causae secundae, he can also work without them (Ex. 34:28: Moses's preservation without food and drink). As doctrine this is pronounced by Christ Matt. 4:4: "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that passes through the mouth of God." "Immutable laws of nature" do not exist in reality, but only in the minds of incomprehensible rationalists. The "laws of nature" are God's will related to creatures. 2. We men should keep to the means ordered by God and leave the strange things to God. Besides, it must be admitted that there is a belief in miracles (fides heroica) for which no rules can be established. The one who has faith in miracles is sure of his cause. He does not merely try to do miracles, but actually does them."1427) The objection that God is not omnipotent because he cannot die, lie, steal, etc., is not based on spiritual contestation or desire for instruction, but on willfulness to create conceptual difficulties. The objection is based on sophistry, namely on a denial of the concept of God. It belongs to the atheistic scoffers and does not deserve the detailed refutation that some older theologians also give it. Sunt sophismata, quibus definitio rei tollitur [“There are sophistry by which the definition of a thing is removed”]."1428)
e. God's goodness, mercy, love, grace, longsuffering. Bonitas, misericordia, amor, gratia, longanimitas, patientia Dei.) ^
It is advisable to treat these attributes under one heading, because they belong closely together in terms of content.1429) As far as God's goodness is concerned, we can distinguish an objective and a subjective goodness in God on the basis of Scripture with the dogmatists. Taken objectively, God's goodness denotes His absolute goodness. Matt. 19:17: "No one is good but the one God".
1427) Cf. Luther, St. L. XI. 957. Walther, Pastorale, p. 294.
1428) Scherzer, Systema, p. 55: Si enim Deus mentiretur, moreretur, peccaret, Deus non esset; si creatura infinitam perfectionem haberet, creatura non esset; si praeteritum non praeteriisset, praeteritum non esset; si dies crastina hodie existeret, hodie non esset. [Google]
1429) This is also correctly pointed out by Nitzsch-Stephan, p. 472 f.
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(ονδεϊς άγαϑός ει μη εϊς, δ ϑεός). Scripture, to be sure, also calls creatures good, not only before the fall (Gen. 1:31: "God looked at all that he had made, and behold, it was very good"), but also after the fall (1 Tim. 4:4: παν κτίαμα ϑεοϋ καλόν). But creatures are good only insofar as they are God's work or God's creatures. In contrast, with respect to God, we must hold that, as distinct from creatures, He alone is good, namely, good in Himself and of Himself (το αντοαγαϑόν). God's being good coincides with the concept of absolute perfection. Gerhard says: Deus est vere bonus et solus bonus et omnis bonitatis causa [“God is truly good and the only good and the cause of all goodness”].1430) That God alone is good and creatures are good only dependenter a Deo vel communicative is not a barren thought but an exceedingly important truth for the Christian life. This truth preserves us both from pride, when we see gifts in ourselves that others do not have, and from envy, when we perceive gifts in others that have not been bestowed upon us. Pride and envy are, according to Scripture and experience, the great disturbers of peace in church and state. Hence the admonition 1 Cor. 4:7: "What do you have that you have not received?" 1 Pet. 2:1: "Take therefore away all malice … and envy." Gerhard reminds us that it is through envy that we become "God-fighters." A Deo omnia in nos et proximum nostrum descendunt bona; qui proximo invidet, Deo ipsi, donorum largitori, adversatur ac vere est ϑεομάχος.1431)
But the Scriptures describe God not only as good in Himself or as objectively good, but as good in His disposition and in His conduct toward creatures. In this respect we can speak of a subjective concept of God's goodness. Quenstedt explains the expression bonitas relativa1432) and adds by way of explanation, "God's goodness is such an attribute according to which God proves himself good and beneficent toward all creatures" (sese bonum et beneficum ostendit). The goodness of God toward all creatures is abundantly addressed in Scripture. Ps. 145:9: "The Lord is kind to all (טוֹב־יְהוָ֥ה לַכֹּ֑ל [HEBREW]) and has mercy on all his works."
1430) Loci, L. De Nat. Dei, § 208. Gerhard elaborates on this in numerous quotations from the Church Fathers. Baier, Comp. II, 44: Bonitas Deo competit absolute et in se, quae est ipsa eius perfectio seu essentia Dei, quatenus in se continet omnes perfectiones. [Google]
1431) L. De Nat. Dei, § 215.<w:t xml:space="preserve">1432) Sysstema I, 418.
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Jonah 4:11 laments God also of the many animals of Nineveh. Ps. 36:7: "Lord, you help both man and cattle" (בְהֵמָ֖ה [HEBREW]). This is where the whole 136th Psalm belongs, which also describes the individual works of God in the kingdom of nature with the refrain: "for His goodness (חַסְדּֽוֹ [HEBREW]) endures forever." Therefore also Ps. 148 all creatures are called upon to sing a great Hallelujah. In particular, however, Scripture ascribes goodness to God toward men, and specifically toward men insofar as they are sinners. In order to present God's goodness toward the world of sinners in a comprehensive light, it is described in Scripture in a series of expressions that are synonymous in substance but different in concept. These are namely the expressions mercy, love, grace, patience and long-suffering. Mercy describes the goodness of God as compassion for the misery into which men have fallen through sin, Luke 1:78-79: By the hearty mercy of God (διά σπλάγχνα ελέους ϑεοΰ) the rising from on high (Christ) has visited those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. The love of God expresses that God's heart is attached to the sinful world in order to bring it back into His blessed fellowship. Jn. 3:16: "So God loved the world" (the whole world of sin) "that he gave his only begotten Son." God is philanthropist, Tit. 3:4: φιλανϑρωπία. Luther, "philanthropist." The grace of God especially emphasizes that God's goodness (χρηστότης) toward sinners is not deserved by them in any way, but is in God's heart only for the sake of Christ's satisfactio vicaria. Tit. 3:5: "Not for the works of righteousness which we had done," but Rom. 3:24: δωρεὰν … διὰ τῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. The words patience and longsuffering reveal to us that God waits for the repentance and conversion of sinners and does not strike immediately as they deserve: 1 Pet. 3:20: the 120 years of waiting before the Flood; 2 Pet. 3:9: the delay of the final judgment because God μακροθυμεῖ εἰς ὑμᾶς, μὴ βουλόμενός τινας ἀπολέσθαι; Ex. 34:6: God's sermon about Himself: אַפַּ֖יִם יְהוָ֣ה יְהוָ֔ה אֵ֥ל רַח֖וּם וְחַנּ֑וּן אֶ֥רֶךְ [HEBREW].
From the attributes of the goodness of God should also be found a reflex
1433) Detailed description of the attributes mercy, love etc. in their unity and diversity vol. II, 5 ff, under the section "Concept of saving grace".
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in God's children. Luke 6:36: "Be merciful, as your Father is merciful." 1 Thess. 4:9: "You yourselves have been taught by God to love one another." Matt. 6:44. 45: "Love your enemies, ... so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good." Eph. 4:32: "Forgive one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." Col. 3:12: "Put on as the elect of God … bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience" (μακροϑvμίαν). A reflection of God's goodness and mercy toward the senseless creatures is also to be found in the children of God. Prov. 12:10: "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the heart of the wicked is unmerciful."1434)
Objected to God's goodness, mercy, etc. are the destructions that confront us in the realm of nature and in the world of man. But these destructions stand in the service of God's saving love, because they are divine exhortations to repentance for all men, Luke 13:35: Έάν μη μετανοήτε πάντες όμοίως άπολεϊοϑε. Therefore, we gather for penitential services after such disasters as the earthquake in San Francisco and the tornado in St. Louis. That the world remains unrepentant in these exhortations to repentance is God's complaint Is. 1:5: "What further shall we strike at you, if you only do more of the revolt?"
In conclusion, we should again point out the unique position that God's goodness or grace in Christ occupies among all the other attributes revealed in Scripture. The revelation of this attribute is the very scopus of the whole revelation of God in Scripture. The Scriptures reveal Christ, the Savior of sinners. Christ in His work of reconciliation is the grace of God turned toward the world of sinners, John 3:17: "God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." The forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ is the scopus also of the Scriptures of the Old Testament, as we see from Acts 10:43: "Of this
1434) Christians should therefore not become members of the customary "Bands of Mercy" because they are already merciful to animals as Christians. By joining such and similar associations, they would be issuing a testimonium paupertatis to Christianity, that is, they would be doing a disgrace in the eyes of the world.
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[Jesus] all the prophets testify that through his name all who believe in him shall receive forgiveness of sins." The revelation of all the other attributes of God would be of no use to us men, because we are sinners, but only terrible, if the Scriptures did not also contain this revelation: the one, indivisible, immutable, infinite, omnipresent, eternal, living, omniscient, omniscient, holy, just, true, and omnipotent God is the God who is gracious in Christ — gracious because God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself through Christ's satisfactio vicaria. "All sin thou hast borne, else we must despair." Therefore, we must see to it that we do not disfigure God's grace in Christ. This is done in a very crude way on the part of Rome by the openly and principally presented works doctrine and by the explicit cursing of the Christian truth that we have a gracious God through trust in the divine mercy in Christ.1435) Within the papal church, God's graceful face in Christ is transformed into a face of anger and judgment. Luther confesses that he was more afraid of Christ than of the devil under the influence of the Roman doctrine of works. In a more subtle way, God's appearance of grace in Christ is disfigured and actually transformed into an appearance of wrath and judgment by all so-called Protestants who make the attainment of God's grace and salvation dependent on aliquid in homine, such as the synergists of all times and especially the newer theologians, insofar as they deny the satisfactio vicaria.1436) Even those Christians who know the true doctrine of God's grace in Christ and who confess it when asked, not infrequently disgrace God's grace in their personal practice. This happens, for example, when they judge God's gracious attitude toward them not according to the objective Word of God, but according to their subjective feelings.1437) Finally, at the end of the doctrine of God, it should be pointed out that all deniers of the Holy Trinity do not know God's graciousness at all.
1435) Cf. the section "The Papal Church and the Doctrine of Justification," vol. II, p. 667 ff.
1436) Cf. the section "Recent Protestant Theology and the Doctrine of Justification," Vol. II, pp. 670 ff.
1437) Cf. the section "The Denial of the Means of Grace in the Personal Practice of Christians," vol. III, 154 ff.
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The triune God is the gracious God, as has been extensively demonstrated. If the Holy Trinity is denied, Christ is not the eternal Son of God, if the eternal Son of God did not become man in the fullness of time, there is no satisfactio vicaria, no becoming righteous by faith, by which we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, but we remain under the obligation and the curse of the divine law.