How God is “Powered”

These are the Q&A's from this past Sunday.  The decrees of God, in other words, what God has done.  Theologians are like other human beings, they like a little of the technical in their vocabulary.  Certain words have precise meanings, something that everyone 'in the group' is supposed to understand in common.  Such language does not always travel well through time.  Phrases like “God’s decrees” or words like “Providence” are not so widely used in the current vernacular. 

These questions and answers are going through ‘how does God make stuff?'  It is not in the abstract, but it is with holiness and other aspects of who and what God is.  In addition, it is not just parts that God has made, but the whole.  Everything comes from God.  God speaks and the power of creation is unleashed.  Yes, I do not understand the mechanism either, but that is God!

Teaching by catechism is teaching by questions and answers, but it is also the unfolding of knowledge in a directed way.  It started with us, what is our chief end?  Another way to put it might be ‘why are we here?’  Since our purpose is to glorify God, the next piece in the puzzle is to understand who God is.  It is nice to know what we are glorifying, after all.  But it is not that God simply “is”.  God is a creative, interactive, directed Spirit (see Question 4) and this is how God gets things done. 

Remember why this was written.  It was not to put people to sleep.  This was written after the Reformation, when the church was returning to the rule of Scripture.  Literacy was on the rise, reading the Word of God was becoming available to the whole population, not just an educated elite.  It was changing the social and political landscape in Europe and beyond. 

In England, as they struggled with the Word of God recovered, these Westminster “Standards”, the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms, would carry the authority of Acts of Parliament for a time, before the winds of change swept back over the politics of the time.  But they served as the foundation of the Church of Scotland and of the Presbyterian Churches that have grown out of her, here and around the world.

Q. 7. What are the decrees of God?

A. The decrees of God are God’s eternal purpose, according to the counsel of God’s will, whereby, for God’s own glory, God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

Q. 8. How does God execute God’s decrees?

A. God executes God’s decrees in the works of creation and providence.

Q. 9. What is the work of creation?

A. The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of God’s power, in the space of six days, and all very good.

Q. 10. How did God create humanity?

A. God created humanity male and female, after God’s own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.

Q. 11. What are God’s works of providence?

A. God’s works of providence are God’s most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all God’s creatures, and all their actions.