_1_Definition of Divine Providence

GOD, who created the world, also preserves it. Col. 1:16-17: “All things were created by Him … by Him all things consist.” We call this act, by common consent, the divine providence (the Greek terms are and ), which means that God actually preserves and governs the universe and all individual creatures through His omnipresence and His omnipotence. The close relation between the creation and the preservation of the world is indicated in Col. 1: 16-17. After creating the world, God did not withdraw from it, neither entirely nor half nor in the least degree, but He remains in contact with the world and sustains everything in it, the greatest and the least, by His divine power. The sustaining power of God, and this alone, insures the continued existence of the world. If God would desert this world, it would at once disappear. If God would withdraw His presence from any part of the world, that part would cease to exist. This is clearly stated in the words: “By Him all things consist.”

The clearest exposition of the teaching of Scripture on preservation over against false views is without doubt that of Luther. In support of the thesis that God has entirely or partially withdrawn from the world and put it under the rule of the “laws of nature,” men maintain that according to Gen. 2:2 God rested on the seventh day from all the works which He had made. Luther expounds the passage thus: “The Sabbath, or the rest of the Sabbath, means that God so rested that He did not design to create another heaven and another earth. It does not mean that God ceased to preserve and govern the heaven and the earth which He had created. Concerning the manner of creation, Moses has given us the fullest information in the preceding chapter, where he says that God created all things by the Word: ‘Let the sea bring forth fishes; let the earth bring forth the green herb, the beasts, etc.’ Now, all these words of God remain unto the present day in their full force. We see that creatures multiply without cessation or end. If the world were to last untold years, the power and efficacy of this Word would not cease, but there would still continue to be a perpetual increase, by virtue of the power and efficacy of this Word, or, if I may so express it, of the first creation. The solution of the question is thus plain: ‘God rested from all His works’ means that God was content with the earth and the heaven which He had created by the Word, He did not create a new heaven or a new earth or new stars and new trees; but God nevertheless still works, since He has not deserted the creatures, which He made in the beginning, but governs and sustains them by the power of His Word. He ceased from the work of creation. He does not cease from preserving and governing.” (St. L. 1:91 f.)

Hence Luther also says explicitly: “We Christians know that creating and preserving is one and the same thing with God (idem est creare et conservare)” (St. L. 1:1539). Do we entertain scruples about calling the divine providence a continuous creation (creatio continuata)? That would indicate pretty strongly that we entertain wrong conceptions of the creation as well as of the preservation of the world. Perhaps we have given room to the thought that the world, at least to some extent, rests in the hands of the “laws of nature.” More on this later.

Our reason can and should be aware of the fact of divine providence. Nature proclaims it (Acts 14:17: “Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness,” etc.), and history tells of it (Acts 17:26-28: “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed,” etc.). But because of the blindness and perversity of the human heart divine providence is also taught in many places of the Holy Scriptures. Christ teaches it at length Matt. 6:25-32: “Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink… . Behold the fowls of the air; for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them… . Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow… . Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,” etc. Matt. 5:45: “He maketh His sun to rise … and sendeth rain.” Paul and Barnabas at Lystra bear witness to the Gentiles: “Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness in that He did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons” (Acts 14:17). And Paul declares at Athens: “For in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Scripture teaches furthermore that the preservation and government of the world, as an opus ad extra, is a work of the Triune God. In speaking of the preservation of the world, the Son of God says (John 5:17): “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” And Scripture particularly emphasizes, for the comfort of Christians, that the incarnate Son of God rules and keeps all things according to His human nature, as our Brother. Eph. 1:22: “And hath put all things under His feet.” Eph. 4:10: “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things.” (See the chapter “Communicated Omnipresence,” in Vol. II.)

According to Scripture the objects of divine providence are both (Col. 1:17) and the individual things that constitute the universe: the plants (Matt. 6:28-30), the animals (Matt. 6:26), and men (Acts 17:25-28). Divine providence centers in the Church. Scripture teaches expressly that all things and all occurrences in heaven and on earth must serve the Church. According to Rom. 8:28 “all things work together for good to them that love God.” According to Matt. 24:14 the world exists solely for the Church. And according to Heb. 1:14 the angels are ministers in the service of the Church.