Objections to divine providence.
Against a divine providence, which includes all things, the objection has been raised that God is thereby weighted down and the small is considered too strongly in comparison with the great. It is obvious that by this argument the concept of God is annulled. The omnipotent and omniscient God is measured by human standards. The glory (δόξα) of the imperishable God is transformed into an image equal to the perishable man, Rom. 1:23. That atheistic heathens like Democritus, Epicurus et al. mocked the divine providentiality and called it an old wives' tale,1480) does not surprise us. But it is strange that even within the Christian Church a man like Jerome could write words like these: 1481) Caeterum absurdum est, ad hoc deducere Dei maiestatem, ut sciat per momenta singula, quot nascantur culices quotque moriantur; quae cimicum, pulicum et muscarum sit in terra multitudo, quanti pisces in aqua natent. ... Non sumus tam fatui adulatores [!] Dei, ut, dum potentiam eius etiam ad ima trahimus, in nosmet ipsos iniurii simus, eandem rationabilium et irrationabilium providentiam. [Google] Gerhard tries in vain to put a good sense under Jerome's words.1482) Jerome was asleep here, as he often was.
1480) Quoted in Quenstedt I, 768 sqq.
1481) Com. in Habac. 1; in Quenstedt I, 769.
1482) Gerhard says Loci, L. De Provid., § 58: Nisi hoc dictum ita accipias, quod Deus quidem singula exacte cognoscat, non tamen modo cognoscendi, qui fit per momenta et intervalla successive, sed notitia intuitiva, qua omnia άϑρόως, simul, aspicit, detrahet laudi divinae providentiae. [Google] Gerhard therefore thinks that Jerome perhaps only wanted to say that God knows all things not successively, but at the same time. But those words cannot be understood that way. Jerome is concerned that men want to come too short,
591 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The Creation of the Wett and the Man. [English ed. 486]
But we do not need to judge him too harshly, if we consider that he only says what we all think too often. According to our natural alienated sense of God, we even forget that God cares for us, His children. Hence the admonitions of our Savior Matt. 6:25-32: "Do not be anxious for your lives," etc. "O ye of little faith!" Matt. 10:30: "But now also the very hairs of your head are all numbered." The whole question, whether the divine providence extends also to the least animals, is settled by church fathers and old theologians by the scriptural axiom: Si non est iniuria et probrum Dei, minutissimas quasque res fecisse, multo minus probrum illius factas regere. [Google]1483)
if God would also take care of the small irrational animals in detail. Gerhard points out l. c. that the Scriptures expressly teach what Jerome's words seem to reject.
1483) Quotations from the Church Fathers in Quenstedt, l. c., § 59. Walther quotes in Comp. Baier-Walther [Ed. — 2, 164-165; HathiTrust] the following words from Rambach's "Schriftmäßige Erläuterung der Grundlegung der Th.", 1738, p. 157 f.: “The object of divine providence is all created things, none excepted, visible and invisible, living and lifeless, heaven, earth and sea, and all that is therein. As he created all things, so his providence extends to all things. He sustains 1. the invisible creatures, the angels; for the good ones cannot govern themselves without his wisdom and cannot sustain themselves without his power, the evil ones cannot harm themselves without his permission, and he sets purpose and limits to their wickedness; 2. the visible creatures, and among them man not only, as the noblest creature, but also all unreasonable animals. In Egypt, frogs and lice must do his bidding. But such provision extends over all genera, over all species, yes, over all individuals of each species; e.g. God provides not only for the genus of creatures called birds, but for each species, storks, swallows, sparrows, yes, for each individual specimen (matters) of the same, for each stork, swallow and sparrow. He cares not only for the trees to remain, to grow up and to be preserved, but also for each tree, branch and its leaf. Each of them is under his government, as Christ teaches Matt. 10:29. A sparrow is one of the most despised and (seemingly) useless birds; yet Christ says that none of them will perish, be shot or injured without the Father's will. Luke 12:6: "Not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God. Even the smallest, most despised and useless things are subject to divine government and providence. Christ assures us of this Matt. 10:30: "Now find the very hairs of your head numbered," that none of them can come out other than according to the Father's will. What we consider valuable, we count. So it means to maintain an exact science and diligence. As the sunlight does not spurn the least worm, so does not the providence of God.
592 ><w:t xml:space="preserve">The divine providence. [English ed. 487]