When I consider...
A bite-sized lesson in doctrine: 1 Concept, 2 Definitions, 3 Passages...
Welcome back to Theology Thursday!
Here is your bite-sized lesson in orthodox biblical doctrine in 3 simple steps:
ONE concept explained
TWO concise definitions that must be kept distinct
THREE Scripture passages to meditate on
Concept: The Doctrine of Creation
The beauty of our world strikes us: The light breeze on our face, the sight of leaves hanging and falling, the push and pull of the ocean’s roar, the birds soaring through the air, the whale speeding through the deep. Most of all, we prioritize people with whom we share love, meals, embraces, friendships, and life-long vows. All of this has come solely from a Creator, a Creator who, with great precision and intelligence, designed the world by His very word, and all very good.
God is the eternal, uncaused first cause of all things. He created all things visible and invisible out of nothing (not building upon preexisting matter or “stuff”) in the space of six days, and on the seventh day, He rested. The creative decree of Father, Son, and Spirit emphasizes His transcendence: He is vastly above all His creatures. In fact, Christian Theology centers on the distinction between the Creator and the creature. It also emphasizes His self-existence or asiety. He depends upon nothing and no one for His existence. Rather, He is the fountain of all life and being. Lastly, it grounds the doctrine of revelation. Geerhardus Vos summarizes, “A God who by a self-conscious act of freedom brings the universe into existence cannot desire to do anything other than to reveal Himself directly in an unmistakable way to the world thus created.”1 Thankfully, in the person of Jesus, we behold the Creator who became flesh, dwelt among us, and infallibly revealed who God is. To behold Christ is to behold the Creator God.
(How are we to interpret the “days” of Genesis 1? Next week, we’ll explore the various views of creation that good, godly men and women have held throughout the centuries, and I will share my personal view and why I hold to it. For now, let’s not miss the point of Genesis 1, which is “Cosmic temple-building.” The Triune God is the Creator of all things, and thus, He is God, and we are not.)
Definitions/Distinctions:
Immanent Trinity (ad intra): Ad intra is a Latin phrase used to describe how Scripture reveals the inner life of the Triune God—God’s very essence—which none can fully comprehend except God alone. God is ontologically one essence and three persons. Thus, the acts of God ad intra (the personal relations that distinguish persons of the Trinity) are eternal, have no reference to anything outside of God, and cannot be bound by space, “days,” or time.
Economic Trinity (ad extra): Ad extra is a Latin phrase used to describe how Scripture reveals the Trinity’s external works in the world. God reveals Himself economically and externally in the acts of creation and providence. Thus, the acts of God ad extra happen in time and have reference to everything outside of God Himself, namely, to creatures, with whom God cannot be compared.
Passages:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”
Genesis 1:1–3
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?”
Psalm 8:3–4 (NKJV)
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Colossians 1:15–17
Vos, Geerhardus. Reformed Dogmatics. Edited and translated by Richard B. Gaffin Jr. Vol. 1–5. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012–2016.
I love the phrase, "Cosmic temple-building".
Can’t wait to read more about cosmic temple building! And I had never heard of those two terms before— very interesting!