Wednesday, October 31, 2007

If God is both omnipotent and perfectly good, then why is there evil in the world? Every theologian has to address this question in one way or another. Some possible answers might be that God is good but not all-powerful; that he cannot control everything that happens in his creation. The Albighensian heresy, which I mentioned briefly the other day, taught that there were two gods, one good and one evil, and that the good god could not automatically defeat the evil god, but that with the help of purified individuals he would ultimately prevail. Others might say that God is not all-loving, or even altogether good, but that he is all-powerful. Still others will claim that God is perfectly good but that he voluntarily allows humans free will, even though he could step in and put right the many things that are wrong in the world. Such a God is beyond time, seeing all that is in an eternal now, so he has foreknowledge of all that happens without actually willing every part of it.

Calvin's position is that God's sovereignty is limitless, that all that is has its being by virtue of his power, and that he allows nothing to happen without willing it to happen at the same time. Not only that, but that whatever he wills is right, by virtue of his having willed it. It's kind of like an umpire in a baseball game: if he calls a strike, then it's a strike, even if the everyone else looking on thinks the ball was outside of the zone.

Here are some things to work on as you read the section on predestination from the Institutes:

• Be able to e xplain how Calvin builds his definition of election from the case of Israel as a nation to the election of individuals.
• What is the relationship between foreknowledge and predestination?
• On what basis does God elect some to eternal life and others to destruction?
• What is the justice in God's doing as he does? Look at p. 196 in particular.
• Why must God's damnation of the reprobate logically follow from his election of those who are redeemed?

We can also talk about how well we happen to like this doctrine, always keeping in mind what Calvin would have to say to those of us who don't!

For the section on church discipline, beginning on p. 213:

• What are the stages of church discipline? What are the punishments employed?
• What purposes does such discipline serve?
• Thought question: if so many are reprobate anyway, why must everyone submit to discipline?

For the Philip Mornay reading, I'd like you to compare the conclusions here to those of Luther in On Secular Authority.

Laurel Carrington carringt@stolaf.edu
Most recent update: October 30, 2007

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