Systematic Theology (Volume 2 of 3)Strong, Augustus Hopkins
Religion
Systematic Theology (Volume 2 of 3)
Strong, Augustus Hopkins
Baptists -- Doctrines; Theology, Doctrinal
It would seem that Scripture should give us an answer to the
question: Why did God create? The great Architect can best tell
his own design. Ambrose: “To whom shall I give greater credit
concerning God than to God himself?” George A. Gordon, New Epoch
for Faith, 15—“God is necessarily a being of ends. Teleology is
the warp and woof of humanity; it must be in the warp and woof of
Deity. Evolutionary science has but strengthened this view.
Natural science is but a mean disguise for ignorance if it does
not imply cosmical purpose. The movement of life from lower to
higher is a movement upon ends. Will is the last account of the
universe, and will is the faculty for ends. The moment one
concludes that God is, it appears certain that he is a being of
ends. The universe is alive with desire and movement.
Fundamentally it is throughout an expression of will. And it
follows, that the ultimate end of God in human history must be
worthy of himself.”
In determining this end, we turn first to:
1. The testimony of Scripture.
This may be summed up in four statements. God finds his end (_a_) in
himself; (_b_) in his own will and pleasure; (_c_) in his own glory; (_d_)
in the making known of his power, his wisdom, his holy name. All these
statements may be combined in the following, namely, that God’s supreme
end in creation is nothing outside of himself, but is his own glory—in the
revelation, in and through creatures, of the infinite perfection of his
own being.
(_a_) _Rom. 11:36_—“_unto him are all things_”; _Col. 1:16_—“_all
things have been created ... unto him_” (Christ); compare _Is.
48:11_—“_for mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it
... and my glory will I not give to another_”; and _1 Cor.
15:28_—“_subject all things unto him, that God may be all in
all._” _Proverbs 16:4_—not “The Lord hath made all things for
himself” (A. V.) but “_Jehovah hath made everything for its own
end_” (Rev. Vers.).
(_b_) _Eph. 1:5, 6, 9_—“_having foreordained us ... according to
the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his
grace ... mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure
which he purposed in him_”; _Rev. 4:11_—“_thou didst create all
things, and because of thy will they were, and were created._”
(_c_) _Is. 43:7_—“_whom I have created for my glory_”; _60:21_ and
_61:3_—the righteousness and blessedness of the redeemed are
secured, that “_he may be glorified_”; _Luke 2:14_—the angels’
song at the birth of Christ expressed the design of the work of
salvation: “_Glory to God in the highest_,” and only through, and
for its sake, “_on earth peace among men in whom he is well
pleased_.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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