The Distinct And Relational God in Covenant Theology
That God is somehow bound to the earth and all its works is a commonplace belief today. This belief has many flavors. Some would say that God is going through the same process as the rest of creation, including suffering, while he matures as time goes on. This is called process theology. Others would say that God is behind everything in nature and bound by it. This is called panentheism. Both views would suggest, in different ways, that God is defined by his relationship with creation. These views lead logically to an earthly God, who can be found, in the end, buried in each human self (New Age) or behind each element of nature (Paganism).
On the opposite extreme, there is another commonplace belief that God is out there somewhere but uninvolved with the concerns of humanity and the earth. In this view, God created all things but, like a watch maker, he has stepped away and allowed the creation to carry on by itself. This is called deism. This view was popular with the American founding fathers among other elite thinkers of the 18th Century, who wished to bow to the rising Enlightenment views while not completely leaving Christian norms and morality behind. The logical end of deism is atheism.
Both extremes are antithetical to a biblical and orthodox understanding of God. God is the creator of all things in “heaven and earth” (Gen. 1:1) standing eternally before all things and over all things (Ps. 113:5-6; cf. Col. 1:15-20) as the immutable God (James 1:17). He is not on the same level as mankind, nor entirely understood by creation (Isa. 40:13-17; cf. 1 Cor. 2:10). In fact, he does not need anything from humanity as if he is lacking in something (Acts 17:24-28), he is self-sufficient. He is eternally distinct from creation.
Yet, he also condescends to creation, relating to us by his own will and good pleasure. He created all things and has never left creation to its own devices but routinely, by the prophets and the apostles, who were “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21), revealed himself to mankind. Most strikingly, God has revealed himself in the second person of the trinity when he, the Word who is God, became flesh and “dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14).
God’s condescension is a theme throughout redemptive history. God has “tabernacled” with his people before the incarnation of Jesus. He walked with Adam in the garden (Gen. 3:8), wrestled with Jacob (Gen. 32:22-32), walked with Israel through the wilderness from Egypt and to Mount Sinai and into the promised land (Ex. 13:17-22; Josh. 3:9-13; cf. Ex. 19:4). He was also with them in the tabernacle and temple (Ex. 25:8). After the incarnation, God dwells in believers by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4) and will dwell among us in the new heavens and the new earth (Rev. 21:3). God is eternally distinct from creation, but he chooses to relate to creation.
The Westminster Confession of Faith section 7.1 states it simply, “The distance between God and the creature is so great...but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part.” God and man are two separate beings, totally distinct. Yet, God loves his image bearers and desires to have a relationship with them, so much so that he is willing to send his Son to die for them even in their sin! This is like a parent and their child. The two maintain, throughout the course of their lives, the distinction between parent and child, one will always be the parent and the other will always be the child. This distinction will never be blurred. Yet, the parent, in love, reaches down to the child day after day, so that when the child is an adult, while the distinction still exists, there is between them a lovingly reciprocal relationship.
Between these two lines the Confession offers a statement regarding our duty and capability. Our duty as “reasonable” creatures to our Creator is obedience. A certain knowledge of God in creation is plain to humanity but is immediately warped and twisted due to sin (Rom. 1:19-23). While we know God generally, we are incapable of knowing God’s “blessedness and reward” from “any fruition of him” that we are, presumably, able to construct from our own experience or reason. We cannot know his salvation and grace from human reason or the light of nature (WCF §1.1). After all, we are naturally “futile” in our minds, “darkened” in our understanding, “alienated” from God, and “hardened” in our hearts (Eph. 4:17-18; cf. 1 Cor. 2:14). So, mankind needs God’s self-revelation by the Spirit to discern his redemptive work, which we have in the Old and New Testaments by the covenants
Explicitly, God was pleased within redemptive history to relate to mankind by covenants. His voluntary condescension to man was “expressed,” the Confession states in 7.1, by way of the covenants in scripture. Covenants have an Ancient Near Eastern context that informs the covenants in scripture, but covenants are simply relationships with a promise. These include the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. In the covenant of works, the immutable God relates to a righteous man, Adam, through man’s works. In the covenant of grace, the immutable God relates to a sinful humanity through our second and last Adam, Jesus Christ, by grace.
God never changes in the progress of time, for he is not bound by time nor creation. But he is sovereign over time while not disengaged. He relates to human beings with love. In the ever-changing scene of human social, political, and economic chaos, God stands firm in his distinct being and steadfast covenantal love. He is our only surety and hope!
Rev. Canavan spoke on this subject at WSI’s 2024 Equipped by the Word Conference.
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