Continuing Creation

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 NASB

Causes – “God is the God of the entire cosmos; God has to do with every creature, and every creature has to do with God, whether they recognize it or not. God’s work in the world must be viewed in and through a universal frame of reference.”[1]

“God works creatively with already existing realities to bring about newness. This understanding also entails that idea that the present (and future) is not wholly determined by the past; God does bring the ‘new’ into existence. Beyond God’s work as sole Creator, certainly the central reality in thinking about Creation, God also creates in and through creaturely activity.”[2]

When Paul writes that all things to work toward God’s purposes, he expresses complete confidence in the continuing creativity of God. The state of the universe is not fixed, set in stone by the ineluctable powers of the past. The cosmos is not determined. It is, rather, the open end of a constantly reorganizing process, a process with a goal in mind (the glorification of the Father) but without a particular track to get there. It is a tragic falsehood to suggest that God has a wonderful plan for your life. What He has in mind is a journey whose course is set by your choices and His, by my choices and the choices of all other elements of the creation; a journey that will take you somewhere yet to be realized in the context of His mighty purposes. That plan, which you so conveniently believed was already in place before you arrived on the scene, is no plan at all. It is a direction and many are the options for heading toward a compass point on the horizon.

Some of us will be frightened by this realization. The open character of the universe, in particular the indeterminate nature of the future, makes us feel as if nothing is under control, and since we so desperately want to believe that control is the essence of human fulfillment, we react to this idea with fear and trembling. If everything is in some state of flux, how can we be sure that things will work out as they should? But this is precisely what Paul addresses. Yes, the future is still to be constructed. It will come to be as we all become what God intends. But that, according to Paul, does not invalidate God’s sovereignty nor does it leave us at risk of random upheaval. All things work together for good because God causes it to be this way. At least that’s what the translation says. But the Greek isn’t quite the same. The verb “causes” doesn’t actually appear in the text. The Greek reads, panta synergei eis agathon. Not “God causes” but rather “it is in the nature of the created order that everything is purposed to bring about the good.” It’s not that God makes daily manipulations and adjustments. It’s rather that the whole was designed to bring about the proper end. God is not the celestial repairman. He is God—and everything will work out accordingly.

We can have confidence in the destination and direction. Our perspective of the temporary transitional states is not the final picture. In fact, as even Yeshua expressed, no one knows that final picture except the Father. Therefore, our confidence is not in what has happened or what is happening. It is in the person who set it all in motion. The indeterminate future is still in the hands of the completely reliable Creator.

Topical Index: future, good, all things, sovereignty, panta synergei, Romans 8:28

[1] Terrence Fretheim, God and the World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation (Abingdon Press, 2005), p. xiv

[2] Ibid., p. 5.