Eph 309 6/20/86, 629 8/26/87

DOCTRINE OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD

A. Definition.

1. Providence is the divine outworking of all of the decrees, the object being the final manifestation of God’s glory.

2. The outworking of the decrees goes back to your prom chip in the computer decrees. As your motives, decisions, thoughts, and actions are printed out each day, this becomes the outworking of the divine decrees.

3. The doctrine of providence expresses the fact that the world and our lives are not ruled by chance, fate, or luck, but by God, who reveals the purpose of providence through the work of Christ on the cross and the revelation of that work in the doctrine of common grace.

4. There are two Greek words related to the doctrine of providence in the Bible.

a. The Greek word PRONOEO means to think beforehand, take thought for, provide for, care for; to take into consideration; to perceive in advance. But in the three times it is used in the New Testament, God is not the subject. So even though it doesn’t refer to divine providence, it helps us to understand the concept. Attic Greek used God as the subject.

(1) It is used in 2 Cor 8:21: “For we have regard for [PRONOEO] what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.”

(2) Rom 12:17, “Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect [or take thought for [PRONOEO] what is right in the sight of all mankind.”

(3) 1 Tim 5:8, “But if anyone does not provide for [PRONOEO] his own family, especially those in his immediate family, he has denied doctrine and is worse than an unbeliever.”

(4) Philo of Alexandria invented the concept of the providence of God.

b. The Greek word PRONOIA means providence or forethought. It is used with God as the subject in the poetry of Sophocles; it is used by Aeschylus as well. It was used for prior knowledge that the gods had. Stoicism in the time of the Romans used the word in a technical sense for an abstract designation of God. This has come down to us in a technical sense.

c. But the New Testament never speaks of divine PRONOIA. The word only occurs in Acts 24:2, and is rhetorically ascribed to Felix by Paul’s accuser Tertullus. “Since we have through you attained so much peace, and since by your providence reforms are being carried out in this nation.”

5. Providence is like so many theological words. It is not a Biblical word, but a technical word for the theology of the Bible.

6. Providence is extended to God’s forethought, i.e., His omniscience, and the functional care over all creatures both good and bad, but especially to those creatures who are yielded to the will of God.

7. God’s providence is seen in selection at physical birth, and election at the new birth, or regeneration. God imputes human life to the person after they emerge from the womb. There is no life in the womb, and this is the providence of God, because if there were life in the womb, most of the human race would be born morons. When God imputed life at birth, that person is neither good nor evil, the providence of God selected you to have human life.

8. God’s providence in relationship to the regenerate in the Church Age is as follows.

a. You were provided your very own portfolio of invisible assets in eternity past.

b. You were provided a perfect plan, the protocol plan.

c. You were provided the eternal state for all who believe in Christ in time. This includes your resurrection body and special rewards and blessings for those who execute the protocol plan.

d. There is no way anyone can cancel the providence of God in four areas of your life.

(1) Salvation. There is nothing you can do to cancel God’s providence. His providence is greater than any sin or failure on your part. You cannot lose your salvation.

(2) You cannot lose your portfolio of invisible assets, whether you use them or not.

(3) You cannot lose the protocol plan of God. It is far greater than any plan you can design for yourself, which are often based on the wrong scale of values.

(4) You cannot lose your escrow blessings or destroy them; they will be on deposit for ever in heaven if you do not receive them.

B. How the Providence of God Benefits the Human Race.

1. The providence of God is linked to the doctrine of common and efficacious grace. We are spiritually dead and cannot understand the Gospel. The providence of God provides the ministries of God the Holy Spirit to make the Gospel real and carry our positive volition to the point of salvation.

2. The doctrine of providence demands that the power of God be effective in the world of the spiritually dead. Even though we are dead to God, God is not dead to us. In His providence He is effective in the world of the spiritually dead.

3. The spiritually dead includes every person born into this world. The Holy Spirit under the providence of God has several ministries to the spiritually dead.

a. The ministry of common grace.

b. The ministry of restraining sin in the world. Were it not for this ministry of restraining sin, human good, and evil, the human race would self-destruct. God the Holy Spirit keeps you from destroying yourself by your sin, good, and evil. He also protects nations through the Biblical concept of nationalism. Anything that might destroy the human race is restrained by the providence of God.

4. The providence of God protects the human race from self-destruction through divine judgment of individuals, groups, nations, and international organizations that are evil. The flood in the days of Noah was the providence of God.

5. In this way the providence of God provides freedom for the entire human race through the laws of divine establishment.

6. Furthermore, the providence of God provides two kinds of freedom for the believer.

a. Human freedom through establishment.

b. Spiritual freedom inside the divine dynasphere.

7. So the providence of God provides spiritual freedom to execute the protocol plan of God inside the divine dynasphere.

C. Summary.

1. The doctrine of the providence of God demands that the power of God be effective in the world of spiritually dead mankind.

2. Therefore, the Holy Spirit has several ministries to the world of unbelievers: common grace and the restraint of sin, human good, and evil.

3. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in common grace represents the sovereignty of God in evangelism.

4. While the unbeliever is spiritually dead and can only express positive volition through listening to the Gospel, he cannot understand the Gospel apart from the ministry of the Spirit in common grace.

5. Common grace is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in making the Gospel understandable to the unbeliever, so that a further decision can be made for salvation.

6. Common grace takes note of the fact that while the unbeliever can use his volition to listen to the Gospel, he cannot use his spiritually dead brain to comprehend what he has heard. Therefore the Holy Spirit functions as a human spirit and makes that Gospel comprehensible. 7. The unbeliever listening to the Gospel is the human side of salvation. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in common grace is the divine side of salvation. Faith by the unbeliever is the human side of salvation, while the ministry of the Holy Spirit in efficacious grace is the divine side of salvation.

______________________________________________________________________

---------------------------------------------------------------------------