147 – God’s Relationship to the Universe – As Creator

SEMESTER 3

147 – God’s Relationship to the Universe – As Creator

BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE

 COURSE: THEOLOGY III LESSON # 47
GOD’S RELATIONSHIP TO THE UNIVERSE  (AS CREATOR)

INTRODUCTION:

1. It is likely that all religious error is either directly or indirectly subse­quent to a wrong conception of God.
2. Couple this with a wrong view of His eternal and present relationship with creation and the potential for error is endless.

I. SOME COMMON PHILOSOPHICAL ERRORS

1. That God is the composite sum of all intelligence.
2. That God is the composite sum of all life.
3. That God is contained within us as the best of our desires and ethics.
4. That God is totally removed from creation at this point in time, “letting nature’s laws rule.”

II. GOD IS BOTH IMMINENT AND TRANSCENDENT

1. By imminent, we mean that God is always everywhere, that there is no place in the universe, where, at any time, God is not present.
2. By transcendent, we mean that God is separate from and above the universe, so that if all things which are made were unmade, God would in no wise be diminished.

III. AS CREATOR, GOD IS THE OWNER OF THE UNIVERSE

1. In Rev. 4:11, we are told that God created all things for His pleasure (not of any necessity).
2. In Psalms 100:1-3, all lands are informed that they owe glad service and praise to God for their creation.
3. We are shown that all these lands are “His people,” not by redemption but by creation.
4. It is by virtue of creation that we are subject to God’s instructions and laws.
5. If you take away this basic principle, there would be no transgression and thus, there could be no redemption.
6. Man can never really bow before God without either the conscious or unconscious realization of this fundamental truth.
7. The basic biblical doctrine of creation must never, under any circum­stance, be considered separate from, or irrelevant to, any other Bible doctrine.

IV. AS DESIGNER, GOD IS THE LOGICAL DIRECTOR

1. It is obvious, the maker of a thing best knows its functions and limita­tions.
2. Adam’s commission and responsibility was to exercise his dominion in subjecting creation, in the direction of the Creator’s plan. (Gen. 1:28)
3. It was in Adam’s rebellion and fall that the direction of his dominion was perverted.
4. Due to human depravity, essentially every mark of God’s design is missed. This is sin and the perversion is pursued, not resisted.

III: “The body is not for fornication, but for the Lord.” (I Cor. 6:13)

i. Fornication is inordinate, sexual activity.
ii. It is always committed for selfish gratification.
iii. Ultimately, it always brings frustration and sorrow.
iv. The order of Mark 10:5-9 will afford the very greatest possible sexual happiness.

5. This principle is true in every order of creation. Find the Creator’s will and purpose, and you find the creature’s greatest good and profit.

V. THE PENALTIES OF VIOLATING THE CREATOR’S DIRECTION

1. Man came to an unbeliever’s type of fear toward God, that is, a dread of God’s presence. (Gen. 3:10)
2. Man’s relationship to the earth is cursed. (Gen. 3:17)
3. This curse is effected through and in every segment of plant and animal life in creation. (Gen. 3:17-19)
4. Death is the ultimate curse, and even in its physical sense keeps the whole creation weeping over this broken relationship with the Creator.
5. The ultimate sense and extent of death is spiritual.
6. It is in answer to this that the great Creator became the Saviour.