- Jul 6, 2004
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"We saw in the last chapter that, because death and corruption were
gaining ever firmer hold on them, the human race was in process of
destruction. Man, who was created in God's image and in his possession
of reason reflected the very Word Himself, was disappearing, and the
work of God was being undone. The law of death, which followed from the
Transgression, prevailed upon us, and from it there was no escape. The
thing that was happening was in truth both monstrous and unfitting. It
would, of course, have been unthinkable that God should go back upon
His word and that man, having transgressed, should not die; but it was
equally monstrous that beings which once had shared the nature of the
Word should perish and turn back again into non-existence through
corruption. It was unworthy of the goodness of God that creatures made
by Him should be brought to nothing through the deceit wrought upon man
by the devil; and it was supremely unfitting that the work of God in
mankind should disappear, either through their own negligence or
through the deceit of evil spirits. As, then, the creatures whom He had
created reasonable, like the Word, were in fact perishing, and such
noble works were on the road to ruin, what then was God, being Good, to
do? Was He to let corruption and death have their way with them? In
that case, what was the use of having made them in the beginning?
Surely it would have been better never to have been created at all
than, having been created, to be neglected and perish; and, besides
that, such indifference to the ruin of His own work before His very
eyes would argue not goodness in God but limitation, and that far more
than if He had never created men at all. It was impossible, therefore,
that God should leave man to be carried off by corruption, because it
would be unfitting and unworthy of Himself."
Forgive me...
gaining ever firmer hold on them, the human race was in process of
destruction. Man, who was created in God's image and in his possession
of reason reflected the very Word Himself, was disappearing, and the
work of God was being undone. The law of death, which followed from the
Transgression, prevailed upon us, and from it there was no escape. The
thing that was happening was in truth both monstrous and unfitting. It
would, of course, have been unthinkable that God should go back upon
His word and that man, having transgressed, should not die; but it was
equally monstrous that beings which once had shared the nature of the
Word should perish and turn back again into non-existence through
corruption. It was unworthy of the goodness of God that creatures made
by Him should be brought to nothing through the deceit wrought upon man
by the devil; and it was supremely unfitting that the work of God in
mankind should disappear, either through their own negligence or
through the deceit of evil spirits. As, then, the creatures whom He had
created reasonable, like the Word, were in fact perishing, and such
noble works were on the road to ruin, what then was God, being Good, to
do? Was He to let corruption and death have their way with them? In
that case, what was the use of having made them in the beginning?
Surely it would have been better never to have been created at all
than, having been created, to be neglected and perish; and, besides
that, such indifference to the ruin of His own work before His very
eyes would argue not goodness in God but limitation, and that far more
than if He had never created men at all. It was impossible, therefore,
that God should leave man to be carried off by corruption, because it
would be unfitting and unworthy of Himself."
Forgive me...
