The Southern Presbyterian Journal/Volume 13/Number 27/Providence
Articles on the Westminster Confession
by Gordon H. Clark
The Word of God (WCF 1)
Creeds
Knowledge and Ignorance
The Trinity (WCF 2)
A Hard Saying (WCF 3)
Providence (WCF 5)
Creation (WCF 4)
Healthy, Sick, or Dead? (WCF 6)
The Covenant (WCF 7)
Christ the Mediator (WCF 8)
Justification (WCF 11)
Sanctification (WCF 13)
Free Will (WCF 9)
Effectual Calling (WCF 10)
Adoption (WCF 12)
The Law of God (WCF 19)
Assurance (WCF 18)
Saving Faith (WCF 14)
Repentance (WCF 15)
Good Works (WCF 16)
Christian Liberty (WCF 20)
Perseverance (WCF 17)
Worship and Vows (WCF 21, 22)
The Sacraments (WCF 27)
Baptism (WCF 28)
The Church (WCF 25)
The Civil Magistrate (WCF 23)
The Lord's Supper (WCF 29)
Censures and Councils (WCF 30, 31)
Resurrection and Judgment (WCF 32, 33)
The authors of the Westminster Confession compressed the doctrine of the Trinity into one section of five lines; but when they came to God's control over all his creatures and all their actions, they wrote two fairly lengthy chapters. The eight sections of Chapter III outline the Bible's teaching on predestination to life and foreordination to death, so that those who sincerely obey the Gospel may praise God in humility and be assured of their eternal election from the certainty of their effectual calling. Chapter V differs in that predestination is more specific and providence is more general, and also in that it considers God's controlling power during the course of history rather than his eternal plan itself.
The devout scholars who made these chapters so long must have done so under the belief, a belief amply justified, that the Bible has a great deal to say about God's sovereignty and that it is all important. Calvinism proportions its emphases to those of the Bible.
Not all Christians are Calvinists; some do not believe that "all things come to pass immutably and infallibly;" they wish to reserve some sphere in which man can be independent of God. It must not be supposed that these people are therefore lacking in sincerity and devotion or that they are outside the fold of Christ. But such is the clarity of the Bible in its teaching on God's sovereignty that Presbyterians cannot convince themselves that such people have a sufficient understanding to discharge the responsibilities of an ecclesiastical office. They stand in need of further instruction. They should study the prooftexts cited by the Confession.
For example: "He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand." (Dan. 4:35) "Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he" (Psa. 135:6). "Being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11). And many other verses.
Because the doctrines of predestination and providence are sometimes misunderstood, the Calvinists, when they explain these doctrines, regularly try to absolve them of the charge of fatalism. Then too, because the words predestination, foreordination, and election are indisputably in the Bible, the non-Calvinists also try to rid the Bible of any appearance of fatalism. All of the latter and even some of the former succeed better in removing the predestination than the fatalism.
There is a technical and there is a popular view of fatalism. Scientists and philosophers are tempted to deny that the universe has a purpose. Natural processes seem not to be directed to any foreseen end. Such is the view of Spinoza, Bertrand Russell, and others. Obviously this is exactly the opposite of the Biblical doctrine of Providence. God sees the end from the beginning and controls all his creatures and all their actions so as to guarantee the planned result. In this sense the Bible is not fatalistic. A less scientific and more popular view of fatalism is that man should sit quietly by and do nothing to avert the tragedies which threaten him. Not very many people are tempted to believe such a theory. It is not much of a danger to Christianity. But if a few are so tempted, they can easily see that the Bible commands us to do various things. Adam was commanded to subdue nature to his needs. Abraham was commanded to leave his home. Christ, who was delivered up by the determinate counsel of God, went deliberately to his death. None of these sat idly by.
Now, no one denies that the Bible contains these commands and these actions. The Bible also teaches predestination and election. If a person is puzzled and thinks these two facts constitute an inconsistency, a puzzle, or a paradox, he ought at least to admit that the Bible so teaches. Therefore he ought to preach both and slight neither. Unfortunately his bewilderment is likely to reduce the force of his preaching.
But it is not necessary to remain bewildered. This is not to say that a man can become omniscient and solve all the problems with which he may be confronted. It does mean, however, that the Bible itself, all of which is profitable for doctrine, contains enough information to show that action and volition by man are not inconsistent with foreordination by God. God decreed the peculiar status of the Jews, and he decreed to bring it about by Abraham's journey to Palestine. God decreed that Joseph would be sold as a slave in Egypt in order to preserve the family from famine. God decreed the death of Christ from before the foundation of the world, and therefore Christ steadfastly set His face toward Jerusalem. It was by means of, not in spite of, these volitions and actions that God had determined to accomplish his purpose.
The Christian should always remember that God is the potter and man is the clay; of the same lump God can make a vessel of honor and a vessel of dishonor. The Christian should also remember that God works in us, of His own good pleasure, both to will and to do. So remembering, the Christian will be a Calvinist and will praise God that his servants at Westminster constructed our Confession as a standard against error and as a bulwark of truth.