Why doth he yet find fault? who hath resisted his will? For honour their own bodies between (a) God is under no obligation: 21, 22: Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and | another unto dishonour? 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, 24 even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? (3) Chosen not on account of any good, but to exhibit God's glory: verses 22 and 23: ROM. ix. 18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. This is, doubtless, a judicial act, wherein God withdraws from sinful men whom He has not elected to life, for the just punishment of their sins, all gracious influence, and leaves them to the unre strained tendencies of their own hearts and to the uncounteracted influences of the world and the devil: CHAPTER XI. THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. 1. What is the primary significa- | had not caused it to rain upon the earth, tion, and what the Biblical usage of and there was not a man to till the ground. ? בָּרָא the coord And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew for the LORD God ISAIAH xliii. JER. xxxi. 22 How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man. AMOS iv. 12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Ismael: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name. ( NIPHAL, (a) to be created: GEN. ii. * These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. GEN. v. 1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created min, in the likeness of God made he him: the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth; (c) PIEL, (a) to hew, cut down, e.g., a wood: JOSHUA XVII. thou be a great people, then get 15 And Joshua answered them, If thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the giants, if mount Ephraim be too narrow for thee. 16 And the children of Joseph said, The Canaanites that dwell in the land of the hill is not enough for us: and all the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Beth-shean, and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel. 17 And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power: thou shalt not have one lot only: 18 But the mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down and the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong. (B) To cut down (with the sword), to kill: EZEK. xxiii. 47 And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. (y) To form, engrave, mark out: EZEK. xxi. 24 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins M are seen were not made of things which do appear. 5. Prove that the work of creation is in Scripture attributed to God absolutely, i.e., to each of the three persons of the Trinity coördinately, and not to either as His special per 3. How may creation ex nihilo be sonal function. proved by Scripture? (a) The word translated create, in: GEN. i. 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. has precisely an equivalent meaning to our word make, and it is the least indefinite term in the whole of the Hebrew language that Moses could have selected, if it were his intention to affirm the ab solute creation of the world by God out of nothing: (b) This doctrine is, implied in several other passages of Scripture: ROM. iv. 16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all. 17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 2 COR. iv. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. HEB. xi. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which (a) To the Godhead absolutely: 26 And God said, Let us make (b) To the Father: I COR. viii. 6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. (c) To the Son: JOHN i. and without him was not any thing 3 All things were made by him; made that was made. COL. i. 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 and he is be fore all things, and by him all things consist. PSALM Civ. and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed hold, the nations are as a drop of a to him the way of understanding? 15 Bebucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the 16 And Lebaisles as a very little thing. non is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. ISAIAH liv. 4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame : for Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renew-thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, est the face of the earth. 31 The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works. and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. For 6. How can it be proved that no the LORD hath called thee as a woman creature can create? (a) Because it presupposes an infinite power: (6) Because God is distinguished as Creator: ISAIAH Xxxvii. 15 And Hezekiah prayed unto the LORD, saying, 16 O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. 17 Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God. ISAIAH xl. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the Gust of the earth in a measure, and veghed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? 14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. PSALM XCVI. 4 For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are • idols: but the LORD made the heavens. 10 JER. X. 10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. 12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. 13 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. |