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Thursday, August 12, 2021
Thursday Bullets: Doubting God's goodness versus Doubting God will give a good thing
In 2021, a good friend sent me a short audio, Q & A from a well-known evangelical pastor.
I basically agreed with the pastor's reply to a question, until the end where he, in my humble opinion, fumbled the ball in regards to problems of evil, as is often done within the evangelical church. I state this, I pray in humility, as by God's leading, I did have to work through the topics of problems of evil and theodicy, within two Master's degrees and a PhD.
This well-known pastor (paraphrased) criticized this person with the question, that apparently, according to the claim made in the letter, had been a committed Christian for decades. This person had avoided a specific sin, that was an aspect of his/her fallen nature (see Romans in particular for a fall theology, Galatians, Ephesians, Hebrews and Genesis 1-3, as examples).
This person, rightly so, in my biblical and theological opinion, questioned whether God would bless this person in this particular area, which has been a lifelong struggle. Rather than definitely and definitively acknowledging this a legitimate and reasonable, the pastor questioned the strength of this person's Christian faith. The pastor assumed this person was questioning the goodness of God.
But in reality, the evidence from the person's letter meant that person was more so, at least, questioning whether or not God would bless him/her with a good thing. Understanding in a mature faith an orthodox, reasonable, biblical, New Testament understanding of the goodness of God, is to understand that God created, and sustains the universe and provides salvation, specifically for those in Jesus Christ that are regenerated (John 3, Titus 3, 1 Peter 1). This is within the applied atoning and resurrection work of Jesus Christ, in imputed righteousness (Romans and Galatians as key examples) and sanctification, by grace through faith alone, not by good works (works righteousness), but for good works, created in Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1-2, Romans as key examples).
In this temporal realm, God definitely does not provide everything good, and/or every good thing for each human being, nor each Christian. For example, the blind person often does not have his/her ontological need for perfect vision provided. I, for example, do not have perfect vision, and I am not technically blind. I function normally and appear normal. I exercise with martial arts weapons. I walk in busy traffic with no problems. I doubt I shall ever have perfect vision in this life but God could heal me.
But for me to doubt God will heal me toward perfect vision, is not doubting God's goodness, rather I doubt God will give me this good thing. There are true needs that in this realm of problems of evil and suffering are not always met by God. As God meets the needs of his followers in order to accomplish his will...
1 John 5:14-15 English Standard Version (ESV): '14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.'
I do not find the idea from 1 John or the New Testament, that God meets all of our (ontological, existence) needs in Christ in this realm, but rather his needs for us are met in prayer as in his purposes for persons.
In Philippians 4:19, Paul promises his readers that God will supply their needs in Christ. However, Martin noted that: "The precise meaning of will meet as a wish-prayer, not a statement of fact, is a helpful insight." Martin (1987: 184). The fact that Paul is waiting for God to supply the reader’s needs means there is an element of faith involved, and in matters of faith, God sometimes does not deliver as expected although he will meet the needs of his people in Christ, in order for them to best serve him.
God will meet the needs of the believer, mainly in the context of making it feasible for a person to complete his will for their individual life. This unfortunately, from a human perspective, leaves much room for suffering and problems of evil. Yes, God loves his people, but he has knowledge of what must take place in a believer’s life in a more complete way than any human being could be aware of. He alone is omniscient.
Cited with my work in brackets:
your needs χρείαν (chreian)
Original Word: χρεία, ας, ἡ
needs, business
Philippians 4:19 N-AFS (noun, accusative feminine, singular)
(Accusative, meet (verb) needs of you)
GRK: πληρώσει πᾶσαν χρείαν ὑμῶν κατὰ
(will fill up or meet all needs of you according to)
The New Testament Greek to me with a definition of needs and business, could be described in context, as the needs and business of the individual Christian in serving God, being met, more so than all of the ontological needs of the individual Christian, all being met.
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