Who Is This Creator God?

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Who Is This Creator God? by Thomas M. McManus

A distinct challenge to Christian teachers, whether in a day school or homeschool context, is to connect an academic subject’s material to the Person of God in a manner which does not lead to a superficial understanding and worship of God. Christian teachers should self-consciously attempt, at varying levels befitting the age and abilities of their students, to correlate the realities of the Creation to the attributes of the Creator. When we strive to do this, both teachers and students will develop a heart-rooted understanding of the Creator-Creature distinction, and move us to a deeper and more abiding love and understanding of our Triune God. The bedrock precept of all Christian education is, “It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, in the beginning, to create, or make of nothing, the world, and all things therein whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days; and all very good.” 1 Based upon this truth, Christian education seeks to teach the children of Christian families that the universe created by God is knowable and understandable, and it manifests the glory and power of God to all men (Psalm 19:1-3). It is this Creator God whom we must know and understand and deal with if we are to truly know and understand and live in his Creation. Therefore, any advocacy or defense of Christian education, or any appeal to the benefits of Christian education, should begin with the Person of God. In his book, The Defense of the Faith, the late Cornelius Van Til states, “We must first ask what kind of God Christianity believes in before we can really ask with intelligence whether such a God exists. The what precedes the that; the connotation precedes the denotation; at least the latter cannot be discussed intelligently without at once considering the former.” 2 In other words, we must consider the attributes of God when defending the faith before we can articulate that such a God exists. Likewise in Christian education, we should consider the attributes of God as they relate to the Creation before we declare that such a God did indeed create. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, which we use as an aid in our classroom instruction, teaches that “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” 3 Based upon the Bible we learn that God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. These are his three incommunicable attributes, the ones which he does not share with men, his image bearers. While God is infinite, man is finite; while God is eternal, man is temporal; while God is unchangeable, man constantly changes. While this is a helpful definition to use as we begin to learn how to read our Bibles, a deeper understanding of the attributes of God is important to understanding the Creation. Van Til lists four incommunicable attributes of God that will help lay the foundation as we teach and study the origin of Creation. 4 These four attributes are: •

The independence of God

• • •

The immutability of God The infinity of God The unity of God

Interestingly, Van Til begins his list with the independence of God because he considered all of God’s attributes as grounded in his independence 5, or his self-sufficiency. While he does this to bring into sharp focus that there is a clear distinction between God as Creator and Man as Creature, he most often applies it to Christian apologetics Source: www.thevoyages.blogspot.com and epistemology. But, the distinction can be applied in other areas of study. When we consider the Moses’ history of creation of the universe account in the book of Genesis, God’s first revelation, an understanding of the Creator-creature distinction is not only important to our knowledge of reality, but also is highly edifying to the faith of the Christian.

The Independence of God As parents and teachers we eagerly desire that our children mature into independent, self-reliant, productive adults. But we also, implicitly and explicitly, recognize that there are limitations to their independence. In vocations and recreations, we understand and have no difficulty accepting that they will be dependent upon coworkers, friends, and family to live their lives. All of us recognize that men depend upon civil government to keep us safe from criminal harm and national enemies, and to assist us when danger approaches. Our independence is limited relative to the material and financial resources, skills, talents, and intellect at our disposal. In contrast, God is absolutely independent, self-sufficient. He is not dependent upon anything outside of himself, or as Van Til points out, By this is meant that God is in no sense correlative to (i.e., that the existence or attributes of God does not share a mutual relationship with anything outside of himself) or dependent upon anything besides his own being. God is the source of his own being, or rather the term “source” cannot be applied to God. God is absolute. He is sufficient unto himself. 6 We learn of the independence of God more clearly when we examine the Scriptures. Jacob and his sons went into Egypt to escape famine and enjoy the beneficence of the lost brother, Joseph, who served as Pharaoh’s vice-regent. But, with the passage of time a new Pharaoh arose in Egypt, one who did not know Joseph, and he began to press the people of Israel into hard labor to prevent them from growing to an overwhelming number and make war against Egypt. But as Pharaoh increasingly oppressed Israel, their numbers grew, the very opposite of what Pharaoh expected (Exodus 1:8-14). Finally, the oppression grew to such an extent that Israel “groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning; and God remembered

His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God saw the people of Israel—and God knew” (Exodus 2:23-25). God had his chosen servant in mind from eternity, and he called Moses from the burning bush at Mount Horeb. No doubt Moses was bewildered that he should be the one called to lead Israel up from Egypt and into the land which God had promised Abraham, for he says, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). Not answering his question God promises Moses that he will be with Moses in the Exodus. Moses’ response to God’s commitment takes the form of a question, the answer to which tells us of God’s independence. When Moses asks God who he should say sent him, God declares his name, “I AM WHO I AM.” It is interesting to observe that God does not tell Moses to introduce him to the people of Israel as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Surely, Israel would have recognized that title from the stories which were passed down from father to son over the years. But God uses a more authoritative name, one which reflects his absolute independence and authority. I AM WHO I AM! God was openly declaring to Israel that the commission given to Moses was based on nothing else than the selfsufficiency of God—no other justification was necessary because any other justification did not exist.

The Independence of God and Creation I appreciate art, but for the life of me I don’t understand it. However, the world is full of art critics and historians who do. I look at a Van Gogh or a Monet, which I enjoy, but I do not understand what moved these artists to paint their subjects in the unique manner they chose. I look at a Jackson Pollock work, and I have even less of an understanding. The critics and historians all have their opinions and speculations, but there are times when I see a work of art that I wish I could talk with the artist because I am obviously missing something. To understand art and appreciate it more fully, I need some sort of revelation from the artist. Similarly, to properly understand the creation we need to hear from the Creator. We need God to tell us his purposes in his creative act. Thankfully, he has revealed himself in the Bible and in his Son. Time and space will not permit us to consider all of God’s purposes in creation, so let us consider the ultimate end of creation. If we had to distill it to one, and only one, purpose, what would it be? Since God, who has revealed his name to be I AM WHO I AM, is absolutely independent, then it is readily apparent that there was no reason outside of himself that he made all things, visible and invisible. He did not create because he needed a place to put his image bearer. Neither did he create to provide for the happiness of men. So what is God’s ultimate end in the creation? The American theologian, Jonathan Edwards, masterfully tackled this question in his study, A Dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World. Edwards writes, For it appears, that all that is ever spoken of in Scripture as the ultimate end of God’s works, is included in that one phrase, the glory of God; which is the name by which the

ultimate end of God’s works is most commonly called in Scripture; and seems most aptly to signify the thing. The thing signified by that name, the glory of God, when spoken of as the supreme and ultimate end of all God’s works, is the emanation and true external expression of God’s internal glory and fulness; meaning by his fulness what has already been explained; or, in other words, God’s internal glory, in a true and just exhibition, or external existence of it. It includes the exercise of God’s perfections to produce a proper effect, in opposition to their lying eternally dormant and ineffectual: as his power being eternally without any act or fruit of that power; his wisdom eternally ineffectual in any wise production, or prudent disposal of any thing, &c. The manifestation of his internal glory to created understandings. The communication of the infinite fulness of God to the creature. The creature’s high esteem of God, love to him, and complacence and joy in him; and the proper exercises and expressions of these. These at first view may appear to be entirely distinct things: but if we more closely look at the matter, they will all appear to be one thing, in a variety of views and relations. They are all but the emanation of God’s glory; or the excellent brightness and fulness of the divinity diffuse, overflowing, and as it were enlarged; or in one word, existing ad extra [ad extra is a Latin phrase meaning “from beyond” or “from without”]. God exercising his perfection to produce a proper effect, is not distinct from the emanation or communication of his fulness; for this is the effect, viz. his fulness communicated, and the producing of this effect is the communication of his fulness; and there is nothing in the effectual exerting of God’s perfection, but the emanation of God’s internal glory. 7 Therefore, the ultimate end of creation is the glory of God and the manifestation of that glory to all of his creatures.

Now for the So What The independence of God must lead us to certain conclusions if we self-consciously hold to the principle of Sola Scriptura. As there is no other God than the God of the Bible, and as there is no other Creator than the God of the Bible, and as there is no other ultimate end for the creation than the glory of God, then we must respond by understanding the creation as God has defined it. God’s creation encompasses all of the subjects that are taught in Covenant Christian School. The primary responsibility for the education of children from Christian families has been given to parents. It is our privilege that we, the teachers of Covenant Christian School, can assist parents in fulfilling their responsibility to God. When we self-consciously teach children in all of their subjects to understand the ultimate end of all creation, we are also teaching children to highly esteem God, to love him with all of their being, to find their ultimate joy and happiness in him, to worship him in Spirit and in truth, and to manifest his glory in their everday lives.

And all of this is possible because the starting point of all Christian education is the independence of the Triune Creator and Redeemer God. 1

Westminster Confession of Faith, Chap. IV, § 1. Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith, ed. K. Scott Oliphant (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing, 2008), 30. 3 The Shorter Catechism with Scripture Proofs, (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust), 1. 4 Van Til, pp. 30-31. 5 Ibid., fn 12, p. 30. 6 Ibid. 7 The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 1, Jonathan Edwards (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust), p. 119 2