[PhilThreeten] The Lesson of Job
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PhilThreeten
Aug 8, 2006, 11:03:28 AM8/8/06
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We never stop trying…We’re just like Job. We start out much like him – “God, why. Why the brokenness in this world? Please have mercy on me and tell me why…” (Job 7:17-21)
Tim over at Challies attempts the same in his recent post on mercy. Well, to be fair to Tim, he doesn’t actually ever say whether he agrees with this in either the article or the comments. But either way, a pursuit of THE answer as to why God has allowed sin into His plan is a futile pursuit at best.
The quote that Tim uses suggests that it was necessary for God to allow sin into His plan so that He might show mercy, an attribute that He had no outlet for within the Trinity. I’m not sure that I can agree with this approach for two reasons. First, God has always been who He is for all of time and the timelessness that existed before time. He must have been known to Himself as merciful, just as much as He was known to Himself as loving. To state that He had the attribute of mercy but no outlet for that mercy comes dangerously close to suggesting that His creation of mankind in some way ‘completed’ God (by providing an outlet for mercy that He did not have in Himself), something that does not fit within an orthodox understanding of God. Thus, if God is merciful (and I believe He is – I know who I am!!), then He must have been able to be merciful within the relationship of the Trinity. How – I don’t know. But the alternative is unacceptable to me since it undermines God’s total self-existence.
My second reason for disagreeing is that it is a pursuit of one single overarching reason for God allowing sin. Does it have to do with mercy? I’m certain it does. Does it have to do with God desiring to have relationship with us in Jesus? I’m certain it does. Does it have something to do with Him receiving glory? I’m certain it does. God’s reasoning for what He does is far more complex than we can begin to imagine. I don’t mean to suggest by this that we cannot know reasons – and the emphasis there is on the plural – but that we cannot connect all the reasons together into one penultimate final answer. God is more complex then that.
Sadly, a pursuit of those penultimate answers – and we pursue them not only in our questions about sin, but in our questions about salvation, God, the incarnation, etc. – leads us to end up where Job was – “I deserve to have God tell me why there is brokenness!” (Job 31:35-37)
Categories: Thinking
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Posted by PhilThreeten to PhilThreeten at 8/08/2006 11:00:00 AM
Tim over at Challies attempts the same in his recent post on mercy. Well, to be fair to Tim, he doesn’t actually ever say whether he agrees with this in either the article or the comments. But either way, a pursuit of THE answer as to why God has allowed sin into His plan is a futile pursuit at best.
The quote that Tim uses suggests that it was necessary for God to allow sin into His plan so that He might show mercy, an attribute that He had no outlet for within the Trinity. I’m not sure that I can agree with this approach for two reasons. First, God has always been who He is for all of time and the timelessness that existed before time. He must have been known to Himself as merciful, just as much as He was known to Himself as loving. To state that He had the attribute of mercy but no outlet for that mercy comes dangerously close to suggesting that His creation of mankind in some way ‘completed’ God (by providing an outlet for mercy that He did not have in Himself), something that does not fit within an orthodox understanding of God. Thus, if God is merciful (and I believe He is – I know who I am!!), then He must have been able to be merciful within the relationship of the Trinity. How – I don’t know. But the alternative is unacceptable to me since it undermines God’s total self-existence.
My second reason for disagreeing is that it is a pursuit of one single overarching reason for God allowing sin. Does it have to do with mercy? I’m certain it does. Does it have to do with God desiring to have relationship with us in Jesus? I’m certain it does. Does it have something to do with Him receiving glory? I’m certain it does. God’s reasoning for what He does is far more complex than we can begin to imagine. I don’t mean to suggest by this that we cannot know reasons – and the emphasis there is on the plural – but that we cannot connect all the reasons together into one penultimate final answer. God is more complex then that.
Sadly, a pursuit of those penultimate answers – and we pursue them not only in our questions about sin, but in our questions about salvation, God, the incarnation, etc. – leads us to end up where Job was – “I deserve to have God tell me why there is brokenness!” (Job 31:35-37)
Categories: Thinking
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Posted by PhilThreeten to PhilThreeten at 8/08/2006 11:00:00 AM
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