Q. 1. “What is God’s ‘simplicity’?”
“We
believe with the heart, and confess with the mouth, that there is one only simple
and spiritual Being, which we call God ...” (Belgic Confession, 1)
“[God
is] a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions.” (Westminster
Confession 2:1)
God’s simplicity … signifies that God is not
composed [of parts], that his essence and his virtues are identical, that
he is his virtues, and that all his virtues are absolutely one
in him. God is absolute goodness, perfection. There is none
good but one, that is, God (Matt. 19:17). He is the God of truth; truth is his
very essence (Jer. 10:10); he is the God of all grace (1 Pet. 5:10); he is the
God of peace (Heb. 13:20). “This then is the message which we have heard of
him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). The Lord Jesus declares, “I am the
resurrection, and the life,” implying the identity of the divine essence and
nature with life itself (John 11:25). He is the truth and the
life (John 14:6). He is the true light, “which lighteth every
man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9). And God is love (1
John 4:8).
This implies that he is all his
attributes, for they are all implied in the figure of light. God’s virtues
cannot be separated. His being is righteousness, holiness,
justice, power, might, love, grace, mercy, and so forth. Of the creature, who
has a dependant existence, it may be said that it possesses certain
virtues, though only as a reflection of the perfections of God. But God is pure
perfection; he is goodness in his very essence; his very
being is virtue. He is the one pure beam of
revelation in his manifold perfections and beauties. Therefore, it follows that
all God’s perfections are one in him.
There is no division or conflict in God. He is the
one adorable and infinite fullness of glorious perfections and virtues. Even as
God is love, light, life, righteousness, holiness, mercy, grace, justice, and
truth, so it may be said that his righteousness is his love,
his justice is his mercy, his holiness is his
grace, and so forth. His righteousness is a loving righteousness; his mercy is
a just mercy. Never may these attributes of God be separated or presented as if
they were in conflict with one another and mutually exclusive. God is one, and
his essence is infinite and simple perfection. Purest goodness is he. (Herman Hoeksema, “Reformed Dogmatics,”
vol. 1, pp. 106-107)
We
are complex because we are created and fallen beings with a maelstrom of
emotions. God is simple because He is the perfect God of peace and harmony. God
is never confused, agitated or disturbed within His own Being. Created reality
external to Himself never throws the Almighty into turmoil—not even the many
prayers God must answer … Because God is simple, all of His attributes are
equal with His Being and with one another. Therefore, God’s mercy is never at
odds with His justice. God is His
mercy and God is His justice, and
God’s mercy and justice are one in Him. God’s mercy, then, is an infinite,
unchangeable, eternal, almighty, just and holy mercy! God only has one mercy,
not two mercies. He does not have one common mercy which—although unfeigned,
genuine and sincere—does not save, and another mercy which effectually saves
His elect church. Moreover, because God is one and simple, His will is simple.
This is because God is His will.
God’s will is not “part” of God, as if we could ever separate God’s will from
God Himself. God’s will is God’s willing, and God wills eternally and
unchangeably and efficaciously. God never wills—decrees and therefore
desires—things which never come to pass. God never wills contradictory things
at the same time—such as to will to save all men and to will to save only some
men. This is not the invention of Reformed scholastics but the teaching of
Scripture [Ps. 115:3; Isa. 46:10; Dan. 4:35; etc.] … About God, James writes
that He is “the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning” (1:17). (Rev. Martyn
McGeown, “British Reformed Journal,” no. 57)
###########################
Q. 2. “According to the doctrine
of absolute divine simplicity, God’s attributes are His essence. Therefore, it
is correct to say that His essence is
love, is grace, is mercy, is holiness,
etc. In light of this, how, therefore, could God fail to love even the
reprobate? How can God hate one group and love another in light of absolute
divine simplicity?”
His essence is also righteousness. In
righteousness, He punishes and must punish the guilty. The problem is, how can
He love the unjust? The solution is: in Jesus Christ the perfections of God are
harmonized. Love and righteousness have kissed each other in Jesus (cf. Ps.
85:10). And this Jesus is the revelation of the particular love and grace of
God. Or, God is love in and of Himself. His love for Himself manifests itself
in hatred of all that opposes Him, outside of Jesus. (Prof.
David J. Engelsma, 26/03/2018)
###########################
Q. 3.
“According to the doctrine of divine simplicity, God is one, He is His
attributes, all His attributes are one in Him and qualify each other. His love
is His mercy, is His grace, is His goodness, is His omnipotence, eternity,
immutability, etc. etc. ... God is justice. So God’s love is His justice, and
His justice is His love ... God’s love is *universally* expressed in the
satisfaction of His justice. For the elect, God loves them in that His justice
is righteously satisfied in the judgment of Christ. For the reprobate, God
loves them in that His justice is righteously satisfied in the judgment of them
... Thus, if God’s love is His justice, and God’s justice is toward the
reprobate, God’s love is therefore toward the reprobate.”
The simplicity of God implies the oneness
of the attributes of God. It does not
teach the contradiction of God in Himself.
His love and His justice are one in that His love realizes itself by the
satisfaction of His justice. His justice
carries out the will of His love. All the
perfections of God are one in the cross of Jesus Christ. To affirm a love for the reprobate as a
perfection of God in His own being is necessarily to commit oneself to a death
of Christ for all humans.
To affirm a love of God for all in the
being of God Himself is to commit oneself to a love of God for all in the
revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ, who reveals the being of God. God is love in Himself, for Himself. He is love in Himself for humans to whom He
sovereignly wills to reveal this love, in harmony with the satisfying of His
justice. (Prof. David J. Engelsma,
02/12/2020)
###########################
Q. 4. “John Piper, as
well as other neo-Calvinists, speak of the “complexity”
of God. What are your thoughts on this?”
[When faced with the notion of the
“complexity” of God … [the] Reformed man … is immediately reminded of what the
creeds teach about the simplicity of
God: “We believe with the heart, and confess with the mouth, that there is one
only simple and spiritual Being, which we call God ...” (Belgic
Confession 1). God is “a most pure spirit, invisible, without body,
parts, or passions” (Westminster Confession 2:1). We are complex because we
are created and fallen beings with a maelstrom of emotions. God is simple
because He is the perfect God of peace and harmony. God is never confused, agitated
or disturbed within His own Being. Created reality external to Himself never
throws the Almighty into turmoil—not even the many prayers God must answer …
Because God is simple, all of His attributes are equal with His Being and with
one another. Therefore, God’s mercy is never at odds with His justice. God is His mercy and God is His justice, and God’s mercy and
justice are one in Him. God’s mercy, then, is an infinite, unchangeable,
eternal, almighty, just and holy mercy! God only has one mercy, not two
mercies. He does not have one common mercy which—although unfeigned, genuine
and sincere—does not save, and another mercy which effectually saves His elect
church. Moreover, because God is one and simple, His will is simple. This is because God is His will. God’s will is not “part” of God, as if we could ever
separate God’s will from God Himself. God’s will is God’s willing, and God wills eternally and unchangeably and
efficaciously. God never wills—decrees and therefore desires—things which never
come to pass. God never wills contradictory things at the same time—such as to
will to save all men and to will to save only some men. This is not the
invention of Reformed scholastics but the teaching of Scripture … (Ps. 115:3;
Isa. 46:10; Dan. 4:35; etc.). About God, James writes that He is “the Father of
lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (1:17). (Rev. Martyn McGeown, “British
Reformed Journal,” issue 57)
No comments:
Post a Comment